Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said the Department of Health wants to change the current system of discretionary medical cards, to introduce the concept of medical hardship.
Mr Varadkar is proposing this where there is a child and the illness had an impact on their family.
He also proposed it for an individual where the illness has a big impact on them.
This he proposes would allow for greater discretion and more humanity shown in the allocation of medical cards
He said that the required work had to go before Cabinet before any firm decisions were made.
He said he hoped the Keane Report, and other recommendations and proposals made by him on foot of that report, could be discussed by cabinet in November.
On private health insurance he said premiums were set by private health insurers and not by him.
He said he hopes to put a package of measures in place to make private health insurance affordable.
But he acknowledged that private health insurance had become very expensive, over the last number of years.
He said people, particularly younger people, were giving up their policies.
He said it might not be possible to bring down premiums, but they may be able to contain the increases and in that way get more people back into health insurance in 2015.
