At a council meeting last week, Councillor Angie Baily highlighted the \u201coutdated\u201d rules for those aged under 25 as well as the lack of cover for those diagnosed with unrecognised illnesses.<\/p>\n
Currently, people under 25 are assessed for a medical card based on the income of their parents, rather than their own, making it more likely for them not to qualify.<\/p>\n
Cllr Baily advocate for the rules to be changed so that anyone aged 18 or over would be assessed based on their own income instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight across Irish society, young adults are treated as independent, capable decision-makers,\u201d said Cllr Baily.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 18 a person can vote, sign contracts, buy a home, take out a mortgage, start a business, work full-time, and travel the world without consent\u2026at 17 they can even enlist in the Defence Forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis system creates barriers to essential healthcare at a time when young adults are statistically more likely to experience mental-health challenges, financial precarity, and insecure housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unreasonable to expect a 19-year-old living alone, or a 22-year-old supporting a child, to have their medical needs judged on the income of parents who may not be contributing to their wellbeing or financial security in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discretionary media cards can also be provided for those who fail the means test, allowing the same access to services as a regular card. As part of the application process, evidence of medical expenses must also be provided.<\/p>\n
However, Cllr Baily believes they are \u201cnot a solution\u201d and said they place emphasis on \u201chow the card is used\u201d rather than the \u201centitlement or dignity\u201d of the applicant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe term \u2018discretionary\u2019 itself implies uncertainty, inconsistency, and subjectivity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you carry a discretionary bus ticket, you risk getting thrown off the bus or left behind if the bus is full. A discretionary medical card asks vulnerable young adults to appeal, to justify, to beg when no other area of life asks them to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make matters worse this is at a time when life has already thrown everything, sometimes life limiting illness, at them. A time when they are at their most vulnerable, when their young lives, just starting, seem to be thrown into the abyss of the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a council meeting last week, Councillor Angie Baily highlighted the \u201coutdated\u201d rules for those aged under 25…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12971,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-198709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-alastair-tibbs","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}