This medical card battle is far from over and Minister Alex White’s statement yesterday doesn’t go far enough - Statement from Jonathan Irwin CEO Jack & Jill “What about the children with life limiting and life threatening conditions who have lost their medical card already over the past 2 years? They are no better off today and are still without their medical cards. These children must have their medical cards reinstated immediately. Our nurses will be meeting Minister Reilly and Minister White to go through the list of very sick children still without their card, as well as the new children coming on stream whose parents are forced to go through the whole application process from the start. “It is a fudge and not good enough for the HSE and the Minister to say that we ‘expect these medical cards to be given back once the legislation is changed by this special panel’, as I heard on the radio this morning. There’s no certainty there. “How long will this take? The reality is that children denied their medical card may pass away while waiting for this system to change. They need a fast pass to their medical card and they need it now. “And what about the babies who come onto our books next week? They still have to go through this brutal system of means testing their parents before they get their medical card. “We won’t stop this campaign until children with life limiting and life threatening conditions receive their medical card in their own right and automatically, rather than this barbaric system of dragging their parents through means testing. “Of course we welcome the suspension of these torturous reviews that our families have been going through all around the country. And many parents are breathing a sigh of relief today. But many others are still in limbo. And too scared or too exhausted to speak up.”
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 13:13:44 +0000
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