Time to publish the expert panel report on medical cards

From the Irish Independent on 31 OCtober 2014

When government parties got hammered in the local and European elections over sick people losing their medical cards they did two things. Uncharacteristically, they admitted some wrongdoing and re-issued 13,300 discretionary medical cards that had been taken away. They also set up an expert panel to advise about how best to allocate medical cards on the basis of medical conditions.

White must show some political savvy in lion’s den after holding gun to GPs’ heads

Here is my analysis from Irish Independent on 26 April 2014 on Alex White and free GP care

A healthy nation hangs in the balance

Here is final pre election article I did for politico.ie on the parties respective health policies. Now that a Labour/Fine Gael government seems inevitable, the interesting policy outcomes will be what type of universal health insurance they agree to, whether the HSE will be abolished or not (my guess is that it will be renamed and reformed into different bodies but with most staff doing the same job under a different employers title) and of most importance – who will be minister for health – with James Reilly being hot favourite….

Health hustings on 17 February and update on parties’ health policies

Listen here for my Drivetime radio slot on health hustings and anything new the parties had to say on health

Is health really an issue in election 2011?

With jobs and the economy top of the election 2011 agenda, is health really a concern for voters and candidates in this election?