TD Michael Collins furious - HSE cuts reimbursement for patients accessing treatment
Independent Ireland Leader and TD for Cork South-West Michael Collins has expressed his fury at the decision of the HSE to proceed with its plans to permanently reduce the reimbursement rate applicable to patients seeking cataract treatment under its overseas and cross-border treatment schemes.
Deputy Collins went on to note that while the HSE would be deferring the proposed cuts until the 1 September, the logic and rationale behind the decision was contemptible and contradictory.
It is now understood that the cataract price which applied prior to the 1st July will be maintained as the reimbursement rate up to 31st August 2024 inclusive.
Any and all cataract treatment on or after the 1st September 2024 will therefore be subject to the new rates. This includes a fall from €1,912 to €863 for the most common procedure accessed under the various schemes:
“I am struggling to comprehend the sheer audacity and the financial ruthlessness being displayed here,” said Deputy Collins.
“Our Belfast or Blind service has now run 154 buses to the north, all filled with good, ordinary hard working people who were absolutely betrayed by major service deficits here at home. The reimbursement rates were the one positive element of the health system that rescued it from total cruelty.”
“We are now being informed that the temporary reprieve is to ‘ensure no one is disadvantaged.’ What planet are these people living on? Is the HSE really suggesting that there will be no disadvantage once the savage cuts kick in in September?”
“Savings accrued to the HSE following these cuts will be a drop in the ocean of its overall multi-billion euro annual budget, but it will mean light or total darkness to the people I represent and the people I assist.”
“It is an unconscionable attack on these people’s dignity; to subject them to the threat of blindness for what amounts to pennies.”
“The proposed deferral until September must be extended permanently beyond that and the original reimbursement rates fully restored. That is what I will be fighting to achieve,” concluded Deputy Collins.
