Rumours Re Scrapping Prescription Charges?

But if people are on several prescriptions they can buy prepayment certificates which save an awful lot of money. It’s just that surgeries and pharmacies don’t publicise them very well. They’re especially good if you start a new medication and might have to keep changing the dose till you get it right. And when I worked at a doctors very few people seemed to pay for prescriptions anyway; many people seemed to be on benefits etc. or on thyroid tablets.

The cost of primary health prescribed medications is well over £10 billion a year. What would you tax or what expenditure would you cut to finance this.

What is needed is more publicity for the Prescription 'Season ticket'

How did Wales and Scotland finance this measure?

I don’t think this is affordable at all but then I get mine free being on State pension.
How can it be funded without huge tax rises?

Prescription charges raise £600m/yr, useful revenue, an annual prepayment costs £115if you arent exempt.

My own view is that if you can afford to pay you should it's £2 a week, however it's quite likely that charges will be abolished as a sweetener for other less palatable changes.

Think it is through higher taxes MOnica. Perhaps the Scots made that choice for themselves?

Big mistake if they do. I personally think if you are still working and not at state pension age you should pay. Free from age 60, needs to be changed.

Just continue free for those who need to be exempt for specific conditions like cancer, diabetes (non-diet), epilepsy, specified endocrine/thyroid disorders, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, severe physical disabilities. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is also covered.
Roughly 89% of prescription items in England are dispensed free. English policy relies on the remaining 11% who can afford it to help.

The Devolved Countries have less population and more money per person from Westminster, so they choose to spend it this way.

Thank goodness I live in Scotland, where prescriptions are free.

I suffer from folliculitis and was in the pharmacy looking for advice, because my usual shampoo had been discontinued.
The assistant advised buying one, which I was willing to pay for. (It was £10.)
She came back and said, there was no charge, the pharmacist had dispensed it under the minor ailments policy!

I have twenty two repeats and a hospital one, which costs £1000 per month.
I am indeed a drain on the National Health Service and would be dead, if I lived in the USA.

If true it will be taken from increased taxation which will impact everyone whether pensioner or not if they are subject to tax.
If true I hope that more of a check and review of medications prescribed will be undertaken regularly. And people encouraged not to stockpile.

Marydoll - assuming you're over 60 you would get free prescriptions in England. Many long term health conditions are also covered.

OldFrill

Marydoll - assuming you're over 60 you would get free prescriptions in England. Many long term health conditions are also covered.

I had a prepayment card for years, until free prescriptions were introduced.

A college tutor said never to give people something for nothing, they don't appreciate it. We see this with the NHS in general, people missing appointments for instance.

They should publicise the prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC) and maybe increase the number of illnesses that qualify for an exemption certificate.

The pharmacy also needs to see the exemption certificate when someone signs the back of the prescription and says they are exempt. As far as I know they simply hand out the medicine without seeing proof they are actually exempt.

I've never had a physical exemption certificate, although I was exempt for many years before I was exempt on age grounds. Issuing and monitoring certificates to people below the age of 60 would possibly cost more than it would save.

I've never seen any study on estimates of the amount of "wasted" medication just because most people don't pay for it. I know there's anecdotal evidence, but has there ever been a serious investigation? I suspect that most of the people who "waste" medication are over 60. Stopping over60s from receiving free medication would probably cause an uproar like stopping universal winter fuel allowance.

If they are going to go ahead with free prescriptions I think that doctors an d hospitals should be banned from writing prescriptions for items that are readily available and usually much cheaper over the counter. My doctor insists on adding my low dose aspirin to my repeat prescription even though I can easily get it from Tesco.

One of the benefits of being older is that we don't have to pay.

Around 89% to 90% of NHS prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge now.

Nanny27

If they are going to go ahead with free prescriptions I think that doctors an d hospitals should be banned from writing prescriptions for items that are readily available and usually much cheaper over the counter. My doctor insists on adding my low dose aspirin to my repeat prescription even though I can easily get it from Tesco.

That is all very well if you can afford them and don't take that many but if you are having to take the full dose of Ibroprofen along with the full dose of Paracetamol every day, long term to deal with chronic pain, it soon adds up. I know this because my student son had to have his sent to him by us as he just couldn't always afford it on a maintenance grant.
I don't know if scrapping the prescription charge will cost that much altogether by the time you take out the staffing costs for getting the certificates for exemption plus the periodic subscriptions.
Chestnut, the pharmacy don't always check although they normally check the first time they dispense and make a note of it in their records, but there are checks by the Government Dept. I didn't realise my exemption certificate had to be renewed and got fined £100 for not renewing it even though I still qualified for free prescriptions. Equally, my daughter was exempt due to her incapacity benefit and so got free prescriptions. Although they were informed of a change in her husband's circumstances , the DWP wrongly recorded her as claiming Income related benefits so told her she could continue having the exemption. When they realised their mistake, they corrected and backdated her records. She couldn't believe it when they sent her a fine for using the exemption form. She fought it but they wouldn't budge because they said she should have realised. She wasn't up to going to court so she paid up. Honestly, you couldn't make it up!

I would happily pay for mine and my husbands meds, he has 7 and I have 4 every day.

I’d buy the prepayments certs.

In return I’d like to see the tax free allowance raised to something meaningful like £15,000 and the level of higher rate tax raised too. These are hopelessly out of date, imho.

Nanny27

If they are going to go ahead with free prescriptions I think that doctors an d hospitals should be banned from writing prescriptions for items that are readily available and usually much cheaper over the counter. My doctor insists on adding my low dose aspirin to my repeat prescription even though I can easily get it from Tesco.

Presumably you have to authorise your repeat prescription at some stage. Can't you just leave aspirin off the prescription? I know I could, if I were that bothered. Then I could just buy it over the counter.

I’ve just checked, if we pay via DD it’ll cost us both approx £12 each per month, across 10 months for unlimited prescriptions! Seems like a bargain frankly

Casdon

Around 89% to 90% of NHS prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge now.

I wonder how much it costs to collect and process payments from the remaining 10-11%.

Cossy

I’ve just checked, if we pay via DD it’ll cost us both approx £12 each per month, across 10 months for unlimited prescriptions! Seems like a bargain frankly

It IS a bargain, if you compare costs with somewhere like America, but stand back and watch the uproar if charges were to be introduced for the over-60s, most of whom probably take some prescription medications. The fuss about the winter fuel allowance would seem like a storm in a tea cup.

The trouble is that £12 a month is a lot to somebody on the breadline, especially as the price of just about everything is creeping up. If the very poorest were to be made exempt, there would be all the familiar arguments about drawing a line somewhere.

Personally, the pharmaceutical industry needs a good kick up the arse. These FatCat drug companies are holding the NHS and the desperate to ransome.

Look what happened to the prices of weight loss medications when they suddenly gained popularity - costs to the consumer went through the roof.

Between childhood and pregnancy and eventually becoming an OAP, I don't think I needed more than half a dozen prescriptions, if that. That wouldn't have been unusual, would it? I can't remember thinking it was unfair or expensive.
Well-paid Scots do pay higher taxes. It's complicated. Also, Holyrood has impoverished school education including the curriculum (though this is due for reform).

It’s all very good in theory and as already said there are many exemptions already. But here in wales where there have been no prescriptions charges for quite some time Prescriptions are placed for a months supply of 75 mg soluble aspirin. Which cost Penske but at standard rate