Medical cards for children with disabilities
Deputy Fitzpatrick asked when the health amendment Bill would be brought forward to give children on domiciliary care allowance an automatic medical card. The Tánaiste said the measure is priority legislation and confirmed the Government's commitment to the automatic entitlement.
Children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance is paid and children with severe disabilities are in urgent need of a medical card. When can we expect the health (amendment) (No. 2) Bill to come before the House? The Bill will provide a clear entitlement to these children. Medical cards not only entitle them to general practitioner care and medicine but also to other badly needed medical attention in the health system.
Comment on this
There are 11,000 children in respect of whom a domiciliary care allowance is paid. The Government is committed to ensuring these children will have an automatic right to a medical card. This will certainly be welcomed as a support for the families who find themselves in that situation. It is priority legislation to be dealt with in this term.