Vol. 536 No. 5
112 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health and Children the cost of extending free general practitioner care to all citizens, other than those in the general medical service, while retaining the community drugs scheme [14795/01]
The cost of extending free general practitioner cover to all citizens would be in the order of £500 million to £600 million per annum. In the event of such a measure being implemented, a complete re-negotiation of the current contract with general practitioners would be a necessary prerequisite. Accordingly, it is not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the precise cost of such a measure.
