The head of the Jack and Jill Foundation says the new Health Minister was foolish to address plans to overhaul the medical card system, before an expert panel reports on the issue.

Last week Leo Varadkar cast doubt over whether people with certain illnesses could be guaranteed a medical card under the new system.

But speaking at the McGill summer school last night, the minister insisted any discretionary medical cards returned in recent weeks will not be removed. 

Jack and Jill Foundation CEO Jonathan Irwin says the minister needs to listen to lobby groups and wait for the expert panel to deliver its report before making any statements on medical cards.

He said Minister Varadkar had made a serious and foolish mistake when asked by Newstalk's Breakfast Presenter Ivan Yates if his Jack & Jill Foundation was the target of the minister's comments when he asked lobby groups to refrain from attacking him:

Mr Irwin says the solution to the problem of medical cards is easy - each child should be assessed in their own right, not on their parent or guardian's income. He says this has consistently been the recommendation of the United Nations to Ireland.