The Irish Medical Organisation has met tonight to consider yesterday's Government decision that GPs should be paid a single fee of €290 a year for treating pensioners with medical cards.
The IMO may decide to ballot its 2,200 GPs on the payment, which represents a reduction of around €350 on the current fee.
The Government wants to introduce the change, which is aimed at saving €16m next year.
The IMO says it will not be making any comment at this time.
Meanwhile, a report from the Central Statistics Office shows that people over 70 years who have a medical card visit their GP over five times a year.
It compares with much fewer visits by people in the same age group who have no medical cover, or who have private cover.
The 'Health Status and Health Service Utilisation' report shows that last year 95% of people over 70 years were covered by a medical card.
The report also reveals that over a quarter of adults have neither a medical card nor private health insurance.
Hypertension, chronic back pain and high cholesterol are the most common health conditions among all adults.
Overall, the CSO says that hospital waiting lists are similar to those in 2001.
The percentages of people who reported being on hospital waiting lists during the third quarter of 2007, in this national household survey, were similar to those recorded in 2001.
However, this evening the National Treatment Purchase Fund said the percentage of people on inpatient waiting lists had dropped by 1% over the period.
