Government increases threshold for over-70s medical card

old boy

as some one who is still shy of 70, but hope to be, this is an unreal senario.
i have a disibility penson, the old gilrl has to look after me, not easily done i admit.
both of our combined income takes us above the limit. 2 of my daily tablets cost 9 euro each. i also have to take 2 more varietysof medication
the nearest bus stop is 6 miles so the free travel is out the window.
i have to have a car, the nearest shop is 1 mile away.
i am not entitled to any relief on that even tho i need an automatic,
a director of a building firm, that i used to work for has even free tax on his car a bmw 525 and walks 10 miles a day for his health.
now we have to pay 1% of our income as well.
we took out the fireplace this year coal is 19.50 a bag. a gas heater plus a little oil plus plenty clothes will keep us warm. thanks to global warming hopefully we will have no cold snap this winter.

podge79

so I take it then irish bob that no elderly relations of yours are in receipt of orhave ever received any state benefit of any kind? and that when you retire you will not be looking to the state to provide any assistance whatsoever to you?

Hotblack Desiato

irish_bob wrote: »

250 a week is not bad when all you have to buy for yourself is food

There are lots of working people who can only dream of that sort of disposable income after rent/mortgage, fuel and travel costs. There is some amount of nonsense posted on these threads. Like free fees, there seems to be a collective unwillingness to wake up to the facts, an expensive scheme to buy middle class votes is all it was - and the real poor be damned.

Hotblack Desiato

asdasd wrote: »

all civil servants earn far more money on retirement than when they start

Only in money terms, which is meaningless. Inflation over a 40 year career is going to be a lot.

even if they stay at the bottom ( which is unlikely, promotions are seniority based).

Myth. Seniority promotions are a thing of the past.

So if they end up with no mortgage, a civil servant pension, and a big old house, no.

This might come as news to you, but there are lots of civil servants who cannot get a mortgate at all, never mind a 'big old house'.

irish_bob

ninja900 wrote: »

There are lots of working people who can only dream of that sort of disposable income after rent/mortgage, fuel and travel costs. There is some amount of nonsense posted on these threads. Like free fees, there seems to be a collective unwillingness to wake up to the facts, an expensive scheme to buy middle class votes is all it was - and the real poor be damned.

thank you ninja , i was wondering when someone with my own view would show up

Firetrap

I was looking at the gubberment's decentralisation website this morning. Anyway, this paragraph sprang out at me

A capital expenditure envelope of up to €72m in 2009 and €90m in 2010 will be provided for the acquisition of the property in respect of the projects going ahead.

I thought the government had stopped acquiring land for this. Clearly not. It's also a disturbing insight into the way they think. They means test the medical card for the over-70s because they say there's not enough money. Yet they've found €162 for this?

(Here's the link to the whole thing)

nhughes100

And I'd love to know how much they're spending on those electronic voting machines, how much on Ppars,, how much in compensation to the army, victims of the Gardai and HSE?, tribunals etc etc etc, Nope the country can afford it. Great to see some FF politicians have some backbone and are standing up for this. There's lots of scope to save money in this country, long before we have to start threatening old people

old boy

and what about the poor pure bred horse industery the upkeep of all them helicopters must be immense, as they cannot afford a cent in tax.

heyjude

irish_bob wrote: »

you should put out a record but be carefull not to break it like the one you play in here

Maybe I will, and no doubt I'll find some gullible individuals like those who keep buying Fianna Fails' record in power (as being worth prolonging), to buy it :rolleyes:

Mind you with all the spin coming out of Fianna Fail, they should be in the record business too. Oh, sorry, they already are.....record boom, record bust, record budget surplus, record budget deficit, record bailout for building trade and banks etc.

is_that_so

The U-turn continues , and not just on the cards. Cowen on RTE radio has stated the proposals in the current form will not be the final proposal. The income levy may also be subject to further review. Thought we had done with the back of the envelope planning but old habits die hard.

asdasd

Like the property developers and publicans

who you are in favour of getting medical cards when they reach 70.

By the way the recent interesting facts that I have learned on the medical cards for over-70s is that the doctors - lead by the IMO - demanded more money for the kind of people who were not eligible for medical cards until their 70th. The difference is a few hundred percent.

were these pensioners poor. Clearly not since they had no right to the medical card at 65. Where did the live? In the rich areas of Dublin. What happened. Doctors, seeking richer pickings flocked to the rich areas of Dublin ( which are often disproportionately old anyway). Result - more State funded Doctors for the comfortable well off pensioners, less doctors for other less well off pensioners and other medical card holders.

A huge amount of Irish "socialism" - e.g. non means testing - is a charter for re-distributing income from the middle and lower income holders to the top percentiles.

Old != poor.

mrtaylor1981

is_that_so wrote: »

The U-turn continues , and not just on the cards. Cowen on RTE radio has stated the proposals in the current form will not be the final proposal. The income levy may also be subject to further review. Thought we had done with the back of the envelope planning but old habits die hard.

So what's happened to the Celtic tiger that we heard so much about for years. An ill wind for a few days and it starts to fall apart.

Hotblack Desiato

is_that_so wrote: »

Cowen on RTE radio has stated the proposals in the current form will not be the final proposal. The income levy may also be subject to further review. Thought we had done with the back of the envelope planning but old habits die hard.

The Budget is just the fancy speech, the Finance Bill is what has the real detail. That's always the way it's been. It would've been smarter to announce '100m in savings will be sought in the over-70s medical card scheme, a means test will be introduced following discussions with the IMO on cost-saving measures' placing the blame where it lies, the disgraceful IMO deal and the fools who agreed to it.