Chapter 10
Health
10.1 Medical Cover
More than half of the women in this survey (58) have a medical card, six women have private health insurance with the remaining thirty-six having no cover at all (see Figure 18). Nationally, figures for late 2001 indicate that 30% of women have a medical card, while almost a further 45% have private medical cover (Quarterly National Household Survey, 2002) indicating the much higher likelihood of income- related poverty in this sample of women. Throughout the survey, possession, retention or the lack of a medical card has been seen to loom large in most women’s lives. For those women who are entitled to a medical card, the possibility of its loss is a deterrent and a barrier to seeking employment, second only to the availability of a suitable job locally.
The cost of medical care can be a crippling expense for many families, especially where children are involved. With one in three women having neither a medical card nor private health care, this represents a potential financial nightmare when illness strikes. If women are to avail of any possible opportunities to emerge from the poverty trap, medical card entitlement is one issue that is of prime importance. With no early prospect of income limits being extended due to Government cut-backs, this issue will be one of the most essential for IWIN to lobby on in the near future.
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Figure 18. Pie Chart indicating the type of medical cover,
if any, held by the women in the sample (N = 100)
10.2 Women have their say: On the
lack of a medical card Mother,
31-40 age group, regarding her need for a medical card
for herself and her children: 10.3
Avoiding the Doctor due to lack of Money Nowhere is it more obvious that the issue of medical cover is crucial to the women of Inishowen than in the responses recorded for Question 42. Participants were asked if they had ever not visited the doctor when they or |
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