“It is important to note that these are merely proposals,” – HSE
MEDICAL card holders in Limerick and people in need of home help/personal assistants, could be hit under a raft of measures being considered by the HSE nationally.
There are currently 51,365 people under the age of 65 in Limerick who are covered by medical cards but the HSE is considering the discontinuation of new cards and the suspension of medical card reviews.
It is understood that the 17,890 people over the age of 65 – 10 of whom are 100 years or older – covered by medical cards, would not be affected.
The draft proposals, contained in an internal HSE document are part of a raft of measures which would save the service providers more than €57 million nationally.
Also being considered for cuts are the number of hours paid to personal assistants and home-helps. In Limerick city and county between January and August, there were 379,856 home-help hours provided and 18,733 personal assistant hours provided to people with physical and sensory disabilities.
These would be severely cut if a decision is taken nationally to reduce home help hours by 24% and personal assistant hours by 61%.
The document is being discussed at a time when the HSE is attempting to make savings of €300 million before the end of the year.
Responding to queries from the Limerick Post on the matter, a HSE statement said;
“The measures referred to are a range of suggested policy proposals put forward for consideration by the Department of Health and Children in the context of current financial pressures facing the health services. It is important to note that these are merely proposals. In keeping with the current legislation, there will be no cap placed on the issuing of medical cards for the remainder of 2011.
However, it is likely that the current funding will fail to meet the planned output for many services for the remainder of this year.
