REACTION:THE DECISION by the Government to abolish the automatic entitlement to medical cards for all over-70s has been condemned by groups working with older people.
The Irish Senior Citizens Parliament said it deplored the decision. The card had been responsible for improving the health of older people and reducing the numbers in long-term care.
"This measure will cause further hardship and uncertainty to already sick and frail older people. We demand that this measure be reconsidered now," spokeswoman Maireád Hayes said.
Age Action Ireland said the decision will hurt older people and will have a negative impact on the public health system. Spokesman Eamon Timmins said the card had a key role in helping many older people remain at home, while being monitored and protected at community level, taking pressure off the acute hospitals and nursing homes. "To reintroduce the means test flies in the face of the current push towards community care and the drive to keep older people out of hospitals and nursing homes."
Dr Illona Duffy, a GP in Monaghan, said there would be "long-term costs as a result of this short-term measure". The introduction of the free medical card for over-70s resulted in higher numbers visiting GPs to have blood pressure and cholesterol checked. As a result, high blood pressures were treated early and fewer older people were ending up in hospital with heart attacks and strokes.
"What we will find is if they are having to pay for their doctor and their medicines, they will stop taking them and there will be more hospital admissions in the long-term."
Prof Des O'Neill, of the Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine, said the measure represented a false economy. The fact that older people had easy access to their GP meant preventive healthcare took place, he said.
"What people don't seem to realise is if you get the flu jab you reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke by 30 per cent, so these are huge savings to the health system," he added.