Madam, – There are times when any government has to realise the legislation it has passed is flawed and may hurt vulnerable people. When its own expert group warns about the dangers such legislation may pose, and those warnings are echoed by groups working with vulnerable people, it must listen. The legislation passed last week to impose a charge on each item prescribed to medical card holders is a case in point.
The debate on the legislation was guillotined in the Dáil last Thursday. The following day the report from the Expert Group on Resource Allocation and Financing in the Health Sector, established last year by Minister for Health Mary Harney, warned that the charges could lead to some patients not taking medicines they needed. The group stated: “Evidence suggests that any deterrent effects will be to reduce the use of both necessary and less necessary drugs, with possible harmful effects on health.” The report noted the new charge was unlikely to raise sufficient revenue to justify the cost of administering the change.
As a charity working with some of Ireland’s most vulnerable older people, Age Action warned of the negative health effects of the prescription charge ahead of last December’s budget. The expert group has now added its warning. The Government must listen and not sign the commencement order for the new charge until it can be reviewed. – Yours, etc,