One in two local people have medical cards

Almost half of the people living in Westmeath and Longford have medical cards.

That's according to the latest figures from the HSE which revealed that at the end of May, 44.75% of people living in the two counties - or 56,006 people - have full medical cards. The total number of people with full medical cards in Westmeath and Longford has risen by almost 4,000 since March 2012 when 41.71% of the population (52,209 people) had them.

Nationally, 39.24% of population had full medical cards at the end of May. Donegal (54.63%) has the highest proportion of its population on full medical cards, followed by Mayo (49.25%), Louth (49.10%) and Waterford (48.80%). Dublin (32.48%) had the lowest proporition of its people with full medical cards, followed by Kildare/Wicklow (34.54%) and Meath (35.99%).

When it comes to discretionary medical cards, 1.83% of the population of Westmeath/Longford have discretionary medical cards. Laois/Offaly (2.52%) has the highest proportion of people of discretionary medical cards.