Sir, – A lot of media coverage will focus on the latest plan for free GP services for under-sixes. There is in fact just one question to answer. Is it morally just to give medical cards to healthy children under six, while many people just above the income thresholds struggle to pay for GP services and medicines?
If as a society, we believe in fairness, then there is a simple solution. First of all, we should give medical cards to all children with a disability, regardless of age. Then the Government could simply increase the income threshold gradually over time, as public finances allow. That way people who are struggling, many of them families with young children, would get medical cards and, over time, if the country could afford it, we would reach a state of free primary care, at point of access. But, of course, there are no votes in that approach. – Yours, etc,
Dr CLAIRE GAUGHRAN,
Carrigaline, Cork.