Independent TD Michael Lowry has accused the government of failing to make any meaningful changes to the medical card regime.
Deputy Lowry was speaking after the Minister for Health announced changes to aspects of the system, such as abolishing the requirement that people with terminal illness reapply for their medical card annually.
While the measures were welcomed by Minister of State Tom Hayes, Deputy Lowry said that while he welcomed the changes for terminally ill patients, the centralised application process which has proved problematic in the past has not been addressed.