NOW CLOSED: Survey on universal benefits - tell us what you think

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Ditto

I could not complete the survey - no provision for those of us who are not resident in the UK

Same problem as Greatnan.

Survey question on free prescriptions does not make sense in Scotland or Wales where ALL prescriptions are free.

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I think if a person has paid their tax and NI they should get all of these benefits where ever they choose to live,
It is the same principal as me being paid the London Weighting on my occupational pension.
When I started work in 1970 in London I could not foresee where I would retire so I paid the extra to have my London allowance included in my pension just in case but I landed up back in Birmingham.
My employers came along with a proposal that pensioners living outside London should not get it.
That would have penalised people in my sort of position.
There were people who worked in London who just paid for the standard pension as they intended to move out on retirement.

Frank

It would have been better to give income criteria as eg 'above £20,000' rather than as a band.

Lilygran

£20,000 is not much pension these days if you are including state pension.
Also you could have somebody who may have got just under £20,000 if he had just paid for a standard employers pension.
He may have paid AVC'S etc which takes him over the limit.
I paid AVC's and sacrificed all of my bonuses during my working life to get extra pension and I expect this to benefit me not the government or other pensioners.

Frank

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Another thought...in this area, we already had concessionary bus & tram passes for pensioners. We paid a flat 40p for all local journeys but couldn't use the passes during the peak times. I think they were valid on local trains as well. Although you read of people travelling all round the country on the national passes when they came in I don't think many of us do that! It needn't be all or nothing. And as far as the prescription charges are concerned, most chronic conditions are exempted anyway so I wonder how much difference it would make if pensioners lost that concession? The survey didn't ask about the TV licence. Perhaps you could have either the bus pass or the licence?

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Lilygran I have to take 4 pills per day and my doctor will only prescribed one months supply at a time. If I had to pay for the medicine then I would have to forego other things, like heating my home even less in winter than I do now.

If I had to pay for my prescriptions, I wouldn't be able to eat.

I wish you'd stop saying what a paltry amount £20,000 a year is Frank. I'm going to have to live on half of that . sunseeker; Surgeries get paid for each prescription so if it's a dispensing practice to give everyone two months supply would halve the income from them. I thought they stopped chargeing for prescriptions in Scotland because the cost of administration outweighed what they made?

Lilygran- lots of chronic conditions are not covered by exemptions. A season ticket costs about £104 but even if you can afford that, why should you have to pay for being ill? Many illnesses have lots of other hidden costs that you get no help with

People with certain medical conditions can get free NHS prescriptions if:
they have one of the conditions listed below and
they hold a valid medical exemption certificate.
Medical exemption certificates are issued on application to people who have:
A permanent fistula (for example caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy or ileostomy) requiring continuous surgical dressing or requiring an appliance
A form of hypoadrenalism (for example Addison's disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential
Diabetes insipidus or other forms of hypopituitarism
Diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone
Hypoparathyroidism
Myasthenia gravis
Myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism requiring thyroid hormone replacement)
Epilepsy requiring continuous anticonvulsive therapy
A continuing physical disability which means the person cannot go out without the help of another person. Temporary disabilities do not count even if they last for several months
Or are undergoing treatment for cancer:
including the effects of cancer, or
the effects of current or previous cancer treatment

I thought over 60 , prescriptions were free !

They are - we're discussing if they were not what it would mean

OKAY Right On??

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i PAID 11% OF MY SALARY FOR 25 YEARS TO PAY FOR A WORKS PENSION TO HELP ME LEAD A REASONABLY COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT. THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A MASSIVE CON TRICK. BECAUSE I CANT TICK ONE OF THE BOXES THAT STATES I RECEIVE ANY ONE OF A DOZEN BENEFITS I IMMEDIATELY LOSE A TOTAL OF AT LEAST £350 A MONTH VIA TAX, RATES, BOTH COUNCIL AND WATER ETC, THE LIST IS ENDLESS. AFTER SPENDING 3 DAYS IN INTENSIVE CARE, FIVE DAYS IN THE HIGH DEPENDANCE UNIT AND FOUR DAYS ON A CHEST WARD, PNEUMONIA BROUGHT ABOUT COS I COULDN'T AFFORD THE HIGH HEATING COST I AM TOLD I DO NOT QUALIFY FOR THE STAIR LIFT, WALK IN SHOWER AND A SUITABLE CHAIR RECOMMENDED AS URGENT BY A BONE IDLE AND USELESS L.A. OT COS I CANT TICK THE BOX THAT SAYS DO YOU RECEIVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS, IF SO DON'T CONTINUE COS YOU WILL GET IT FREE, PRESUMABLY OUT OF THE COUNCIL TAX, PAYE I PAY COS I GET A MODEST WORKS PENSION. 12 YEARS IN THE ARMY, INCLUDING 5 YEARS SITTING IN A TANK ON THE IRON CURTAIN BORDER TO ENSURE THE ETON MAFIA GOT THEIR FREE UNIVERSITY COURSE AND NON MEANS TESTED GRANT, 12 MONTHS ON ACTIVE SERVICE IN ADEN, 25 YEARS AS A PROBATION OFFICER WORKING IN THE MOST DEPRIVED AREA OF DURHAM AND MERSEYSIDE AND I HAD TO BUY MY OWN PAIN KILLERS IN HOSPITAL, WHY, COS THE NHS IS SAFE IN OUR HANDS. THE CAPITALS MIGHT REFLECT MY ANGER BUT ARE MAINLY THEIR COS I DESTROYED MY WRIST AND ON DAYS LIKE TODAY IT IS TOO PAINFUL TO ACCESS THE SHIFT KEY. AM I DISILLUSIONED, ER YOU BET YOUR LIFE I AM.
Peter