GP visit card for people with long term illness

curlymo · 05-03-2012 12:06AM #1

It was promised in the budget in December that people with long term illnesses would receive the GP visit card in March. Checked it out on Friday with the Department of Health and said that it would be late summer before they would be issued as they have to be legislated on first. If it was a tax that the government was taking off the people it would have been implemented on the 1st day. But as usual promises don't come when promised by the our Government.

elvis jones · 05-03-2012 01:30PM

curlymo wrote: »

It was promised in the budget in December that people with long term illnesses would receive the GP visit card in March. Checked it out on Friday with the Department of Health and said that it would be late summer before they would be issued as they have to be legislated on first. If it was a tax that the government was taking off the people it would have been implemented on the 1st day. But as usual promises don't come when promised by the our Government.

You're not wrong there.

bravo · 06-03-2012 04:05PM

In the same boat....waiting!
Sent another email to the Ministers Office today asking the same question - When?
Last answer was ..."by the summer".

sobaga · 09-03-2012 04:28PM

This "by the summer" thing will happen just the way the Compliance Bill did - it was deferred and deferred, re-read, amended, read again and... scrapped. I don't believe in a free GP care in this country, thank God that LTI is there - with the prices of medicines here I would be probably dead already

5live · 09-03-2012 09:03PM

I think they did a cost/benefit analysis and found it would be cheaper to have people seen and treated early in the community rather than requiring later more expensive interventions and taking up ward spaces.

Maybe i have had a bout late onset optimism but i can see it coming in later in the year

echo beach · 10-03-2012 08:43PM

5live wrote: »

I think they did a cost/benefit analysis and found it would be cheaper to have people seen and treated early in the community rather than requiring later more expensive interventions and taking up ward spaces.

I wonder how much they spent to come to that fairly obvious conclusion.

The problem is that although treating people in the community may be cheaper you have to spend now to save later and you have to move the money from one part of the health budget (hospitals) to another part (primary care) when a lot of vested interests want to keep it where it is.

uli84 · 15-04-2012 08:00PM

:mad:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/doctors-want-more-money-to-provide-free-treatment-for-longterm-patients-3080834.html

sobaga · 15-04-2012 10:43PM

Oh this is just sickening! The medics in this country (and probably everywhere else) are so greedy! My GP charges like 50 quid per visit (if he only gives you a prescription and possibly listens to your chest, otherwise it's more) and he sees between 20 and 30 patients a day in his surgery. No secretary or nurse, he obviously does not need them

I would love to be on whatever he earns per day, paid to me a week! Or even a fortnight! If I have GP visit card, he will get the money he would be getting from me anyway, just the source would be different. But because this is the government who's going to pay them, they see an opportunity for themselves to milk more out of the scheme :mad:

MarthaMyDear · 17-04-2012 09:12PM

I wonder how you qualify for a visit card? Can it be any long term illness? I am in and out of the GP for both endometriosis and otitis externa so I wonder will I have any luck applying when they finally come out!!

Redmal · 17-04-2012 09:28PM

MarthaMyDear wrote: »

I wonder how you qualify for a visit card? Can it be any long term illness? I am in and out of the GP for both endometriosis and otitis externa so I wonder will I have any luck applying when they finally come out!!

Have you ever applied? It's the same process as applying for a Medical Card. Long term illness is a factor depending on what it is and if it is genuine, but it is also means tested at the moment, not sure if that will change with regards to people with long term illnesses. Sometimes people will get their GP to write a letter of support on their behalf confirming their illnesses and medications and that they feel that the patient would benefit from obtaining a Medical Card or a Doctor Visit Card. Sometimes these can help. Anyone who asks me about applying, I always tell them to just apply, worst they'll get told is that they are not entitled to one. You never know, you might get lucky

graflynn · 18-04-2012 04:59PM

MarthaMyDear wrote: »

I wonder how you qualify for a visit card? Can it be any long term illness?

This information is from the HSE website. http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/Find_a_Service/entitlements/Long_Term_Illness/

If you have any of the illnesses listed below you qualify for this scheme regardless of income.

What is the Long Term Illness Scheme?
If you have certain long-term illnesses or disabilities, you may apply to join the Long Term Illness Scheme and you will be supplied with a Long Term Illness book. This book allows you to get drugs, medicines, and medical and surgical appliances directly related to the treatment of your illness, free of charge. It does not depend on your income or other circumstances
and is separate from the Medical Card Scheme and the GP Visit Card Scheme.

If you already have been given a Medical Card, you do not need to apply for a Long Term Illness book. If you become ineligible for a Medical Card at any stage, but have one of the medical conditions below, you should apply to join the Long Term Illness scheme to cover the cost of your medication.

Acute Leukaemia
Mental handicap
Cerebral Palsy
Mental Illness (in a person under 16)
Cystic Fibrosis
Multiple Sclerosis
Diabetes Insipidus
Muscular Dystrophies
Diabetes Mellitus
Parkinsonism
Epilepsy
Phenylketonuria
Haemophilia
Spina Bifida
Hydrocephalus
Conditions arising from the use of Thalidomide

back to top
How do I Qualify?
You must be ordinarily resident in Ireland and hold a PPSN. You qualify if you have one of the illnesses or disabilities listed below:
There is no income requirement or means test. If you have a medical condition that is not listed above, you should consider applying for a Medical Card or a GP Visit Card.

Redmal · 18-04-2012 08:51PM

That information is for application of a Long Term Illness book, not a GP visit or Medical card. The Long Term Illness book means that you don't pay for any medication relating to your particular long term illness but you still pay for doctors visits and other medications you may require that aren't related to your illness. It's still good information though, I never knew these existed until my GP surgery and chemist actually sorted it out for me!

MarthaMyDear · 20-04-2012 12:58PM

Thanks for the replies, I've never applied but maybe I will! So expensive having to go in and out to the doctor all the time!

greenbicycle · 25-04-2012 05:50PM

Good news!

Looks like our GP visit cards are on the way this summer.....

http://www.thejournal.ie/phased-introduction-of-free-gp-care-announced-429156-Apr2012/

Eurovisionmad · 25-04-2012 09:26PM

Is it only a GP Visit card or is it a full Medical Card, 'cause I went to my GP today and he kept on saying I'd get a medical card!

greenbicycle · 26-04-2012 08:07AM

I think its just a GP visit card..........

Spook_ie · 26-04-2012 08:23AM

Its for a free GP Visit Card, not full Medical Card

echo beach · 26-04-2012 10:12PM

greenbicycle wrote: »

Good news!

Looks like our GP visit cards are on the way this summer.....

http://www.thejournal.ie/phased-introduction-of-free-gp-care-announced-429156-Apr2012/

Don't hold your breath. What this leglislation will do is ALLOW the introduction of free GP care. It won't make it happen. The next step after that will involve spending money as the GPs will have to be paid for providing the care. Given that this first step is already far behind schedule you can expect further delays before anything acually happens.

bravo · 25-06-2012 10:01AM

So the primary legislation is to be enacted by the summer?
Its almost July and nothing has moved on this issue to my knowledge...and I'd love to be corrected on this.
I could do with this card for a combination of medical problems including diabetes t2.
So more empty promises, and my GP is still getting my money which I can ill afford to give him, and of course I don't qualify for a medical card or GP visit card as things stand.

The_Conductor · 26-06-2012 07:34AM

bravo wrote: »

So the primary legislation is to be enacted by the summer?
Its almost July and nothing has moved on this issue to my knowledge...and I'd love to be corrected on this.
I could do with this card for a combination of medical problems including diabetes t2.
So more empty promises, and my GP is still getting my money which I can ill afford to give him, and of course I don't qualify for a medical card or GP visit card as things stand.

The heads of the bill have been published- nothing more, nothing less.
It will likely be at least the Autumn before this comes up on the agenda unfortunately.
Heres hoping the current list of long term illnesses isn't used as a template for the card........

echo beach · 28-06-2012 10:59PM

smccarrick wrote: »

Heres hoping the current list of long term illnesses isn't used as a template for the card........

That is exactly the intention. The figures have all been calculated on EXISTING holders of Long Term Illness cards (green books). I'm sorry to say that if you don't have one you certainly won't be in the first group getting free GP care.

The_Conductor · 29-06-2012 07:59AM

echo beach wrote: »

That is exactly the intention. The figures have all been calculated on EXISTING holders of Long Term Illness cards (green books). I'm sorry to say that if you don't have one you certainly won't be in the first group getting free GP care.

Dammit......

The list of conditions covered is highly arbitrary- there are more debilitating conditions out there- as indeed there are conditions with far higher 5 year fatality rates- than some on the list. Its really not fair to use the current list- drawing a line in the sand- and covering some folk with serious medical conditions, but not others.

I accept that in the current climate- there isn't money to spend on schemes- however- there is at least as valid and legitimate an argument to put forward on behalf of some chronic illnesses and diseases, as there are for many of the covered ones........

:(:(:(:(:(

echo beach · 29-06-2012 07:24PM

smccarrick wrote: »

Dammit......

The list of conditions covered is highly arbitrary- there are more debilitating conditions out there- as indeed there are conditions with far higher 5 year fatality rates- than some on the list. Its really not fair to use the current list-

I agree. The listing is completely arbitary. The scheme started in the fifies or sixties as the 'diabetic scheme' and just covered diabetics. Over the years other diseases were included just because somebody made a good case for them at the time. In the seventies it was decided that this approach wasn't fair and they decided to review the scheme before any new illnesses would be included. This 'review' is going on since, as anybody that has tried to have 'their' illness included has been told. It is at least thirty years since the list has been revised although asthma and glaucoma, among many others, have made convincing cases.

Basically the choice was cover all chronic illnesses or none. Covering them all was too expensive and no politician had the nerve to end the scheme so we have a situation where it is a roll of the dice if you get the 'right' illness.
Multi-millionaires get their insulin free while those a few euro over the limit for a medical card have to struggle to buy inhalers so their children can breathe comfortably.
There is nothing fair about our health system but this is one of the most unjust parts of it and it seems the intention is to carry this injustice into the new free GP care scheme. It doesn't fill me with confidence that we will live to see a fair and equitable system for all.

uli84 · 09-05-2013 10:32AM

Soooo...it's not happening, is it?

echo beach · 09-05-2013 11:00PM

uli84 wrote: »

Soooo...it's not happening, is it?

No it's not, and now it's official that it's not.

I notice it was a junior minister who got the job of breaking the bad news, and trying to spin it that not delivering something they repeatedly promised isn't breaking a promise.
Reilly must have been so busy yesterday he couldn't tell us himself.

ANXIOUS · 09-05-2013 11:19PM

Link?

The_Conductor · 10-05-2013 10:38AM

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Link?

From the Irish Times

The Government is set to abandon a key election commitment to extend free GP care to almost 60,000 people with long-term illnesses.

The plan, proposed as a first step on the way to free GP care for all, was supposed to have been introduced by March 2012. However, legal difficulties delayed its introduction and Ministers now accept there is no prospect of its implementation this year.

Instead, the Department of Health is looking at alternative ways of phasing in the government’s proposals for free GP care for all. One option being examined by Minister of State for Primary Care, Alex White, would be to phase it in over a number of years by extending the scheme gradually to people in specific age categories.

Another option being considered is the progressive application of a subsidy over a number of years to offset the cost of a medical card until such time as free care is introduced.

Because of the delay in introducing the first phase, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the broader commitment in the programme for Government to implement free GP care for all will be achieved as promised in the lifetime of the current administration.

Nor is there any indication where the €400 million-€450 million a year needed to fund the plan will come from.

Alarmed at this drift in a key Government commitment, the Cabinet’s health subcommittee recently considered how to get the phased introduction of free GP care back on track. Ministers were told it would take at least another eight to 10 months to introduce the legislation that would allow for the provision of GP cards to people with long-term illnesses.

While this target has been abandoned, Mr White has been instructed to research other options. Sources say the committee favours recasting the promise to ensure sufficient progress is made in the second half of the Government’s term.

“If people see we’re a good way down the road, I think they’ll accept that free GP care is on the way,” said one Minister.

At present, people with specified long-term illnesses get their drugs free but have to pay to see a GP.

Commitment
The programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce free primary care for people with long-term illnesses within the first year.

However, this deadline was missed as was a second deadline to extend the scheme further to people on the High-Tech drugs scheme.

No legislation has been published despite repeated promises that its introduction was imminent.

The plan ran into difficulties in the Attorney General’s office, where the legal advice was that granting medical cards on the basis of medical needs rather than income could be open to challenge.

Because the existing Long Term Illness scheme is regarded as legally frail, the Attorney General advised against using it as the basis for extending the availability of free primary care. The €15 million allocated for this purpose last year was spent on offsetting the HSE’s deficit.

Asked yesterday about its plans, the department said legislation was being drafted for the first phase of free GP care, but its statement made no specific reference to the proposal to provide medical cards for people on long-term illness. “The legislation will be published when it is completed,” it said.

uli84 · 12-05-2013 02:28PM

So disappointing

it looked quite real until recently...

The_Conductor · 12-05-2013 08:21PM

uli84 wrote: »

So disappointing it looked quite real until recently...

It sounds like they're squirming- they are going to implement it- just not in a given timeframe (and from comments- probably not in this Dail). It will be interesting to see whether they tackle all long-term illnesses with this- and not the arbitrary list as was originally proposed (and which they deemed unworkable). The pricetag of 400-500 million for this (however they're coming up with this figure) is a major incentive for the government to put this on the long finger.

echo beach · 13-05-2013 07:51PM

You can't have free GP care without GPs, so if you were serious about it the first thing to do would be to talk to the GPs. So far they haven't which is why I'm not convinced that this government is serious about the plan.
It has never been clear, or not to me anyway, how it will tie in with Universal Health Insurance, UHI, or if it is independent of it. It all comes back to money. 'Free' care isn't free. Somebody has to pay for it and until we know who will be doing the paying and how much they will have to pay there can't be any progress.

Eurovisionmad · 13-05-2013 08:43PM

echo beach wrote: »

You can't have free GP care without GPs, so if you were serious about it the first thing to do would be to talk to the GPs.

I contest that, the free GP care in NHS was brought in at the time to almost unanimous opposition from GPs and of course the government at the time were burdened by massive war debt and austerity but the political will was there to do it, something distinctly lacking today. Regardless in many ways free GP care can pay itself back by being a preventative measure and avoiding the need for costly hospital care latter on. I've a feeling more than anything else that James Reilly is behind the policy being thrown out, the GPs perceive that they'll lose money because of this and of course Reilly is an IMO head through and through!

GP visit card for people with long term illness

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