Prescription charges for the over sixties

Well said Hymmbook!

Well said, Gabrielle56 I'm not sure how your post about the dentist would work, but your first post reflects my opinion exactly.

For the past decade or so, we have all been turned against one another, and in no case more blatently than the intergenerational conflict that is used to steal from the old and to justify fleecing the young.

I'm not asking for young people to subsidise me. I'm asking for the system that I paid into to pay me back, in the same way that my contributions paid the pensions of those before me. Yes, many of us live longer now, but many more women pay in than used to, so the number of contributions is higher. The 15% mortgage rate I paid subsidised the savings rates of those who had money in savings when I couldn't afford to save. Since my own turn to save arrived (even though it's been at very low rates all along), there have been constant calls to claw it back, as over people are supposedly 'comfortable' - perish the thought.

Yes, I have an occupational pension, but it didn't come free, and I was only able to pay into it from the age of 37 as when I was young people on part-time or temporary contracts didn't have a right to belong to occupational pensions, and these contracts were the norm for new starters in my profession.

As for the house price resentment - massive gains from house ownership do not apply across the country, and in any case not all older people are homeowners.

I am speaking only about myself, obviously, and am not necessarily representative of all older people. But that is part of the point - not all older people are the same, and to make sweeping policies that include all of us - rich poor, those who have worked and those who haven't, home owners and renters, savers and spenders, the sick and the ill, those with pensions and those without is such a blunt instrument.

What I think is vital to a cohesive society, however, is that people should be able to make choices in life based on the expectation that what governments say is true, and that their promises will be honoured. To move goalposts when it is too late for people to go back and do things differently is to deny them the right to plan ahead, and IMO it destabilises society.

Prescriptions are free for all in Scotland.
Pensioners ie 60 and over should not have to pay for prescriptions!
I have 12 items on repeat prescription every month.
It’s bad enough I have to wait until I’m 66 for my State Pension! £40k plus I’ve lost out on and no real time when working to make adequate provision for losing this large sum of money.

Having paid NI all my working life, from 16 onwards, I feel that all OAP’s should have free prescriptions as should those with certain medical conditions. What I disagree with is all age groups here in Wales get free prescriptions. I believe that up to retirement age we should all pay something for our medication. Here in Wales, we are limited to having costly cancer medications for example because there isn’t enough money in the coffers. On the flip side of the coin, when prescriptions became free people were asking for Panadol on script when the actual cost was so small, showing how greedy some people are. I just find the whole system is so abused here that something needs to be done.

I cannot understand why Asthma does not come under free prescriptions. Serious life threatening illness.

Yes all prescriptions are free for everyone in Scotland. My understanding is that once this became law it was "Cost Neutral" because there no longer needed to be a whole department to administer the system and check each prescription. Also it saved pharmacies a lot of time and trouble when they no longer had to ensure whether people were entitled or not. If this is the case in Wales and Scotland, why has it not been introduced in England?

Reading posts on here I am worried by how few people seem to be aware that you can buy prescription prepayment certificates

If free prescriptions disappeared for older people ,just over £108 a year will buy you a prescription prepayment certificate to cover a years worth of medications, regardless of how many you take.

If an item is less over the counter a prescription shouldn't be given.Some doctors aren't vigilant when prescribing.

I have completed the online consultation on changing prescription charges, took about two minutes so I suggest everyone here does it. I just googled “ prescription charge consultation” and found it on the Gov webpage. There is a question about not applying the proposed change to people who are already over 60 but not yet 66 so they would not need to start paying. I ticked that as I agree that the concession should not be taken away from people already eligible to free prescriptions, it’s bad enough having my state pension age changed!

But I am still unhappy that this proposal only affects those living in England. It states that the changes are linked to the Covid debt when all parts of the U.K. received the funding yet raised taxes etc are not being applied across the whole of the U.K.

Regarding the cost of the prepayment certificates, I bet they will become more expensive before too long!

I paid tax and Nat insurance for 44 years like many others, still pay tax on my pension, still waiting to receive my state pension as the government put the age up to 66, so feel no guilt whatsoever in getting my 2 monthly prescription for a lifelong medication, I’ve paid my way and then some.

But I am still unhappy that this proposal only affects those living in England. It states that the changes are linked to the Covid debt when all parts of the U.K. received the funding yet raised taxes etc are not being applied across the whole of the U.K.

Sorry to be blunt but why are the English so uptight about free prescriptions in Wales and Scotland? We get our share of the Union's money to spend, and our government decided to spend it on giving us all free prescriptions. Its a good thing. Health is devolved, its our decision to make. And we already pay more income tax in Scotland than down south. We'll see cuts in other things, I'm sure. If you think its unfair, tell your government that you want free prescriptions too. Or vote for another government.

Nanawind

Over 60's in England get free prescriptions and free eye tests.
Yet Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland get free prescriptions what ever age you are.
Not all over 60's are comfortable off.

Yet most dare I say elderly people are on multiply tablets, the optician laughed at me last week when I added yet another to the list. I seem to be on two tablets for every ailment, I need a carry bag to pick the two monthly prescriptions up.
Just before the pandemic the practise nurse offered to pay for me to go to a Slimming club and join a walking group. As she had already rattled me I answered by saying"Only if you come with me", she was so plump she had trouble sitting on her chair which I didn't have. Surely if people are so overweight they should pay for the clubs themselves or maybe they cannot afford them as most of their cash goes on Rubbish food.
I could pay the charges as my husband is still alive and we are comfortably off but feel for the lady who says she could not manage.
Maybe they will introduce some kind of means test.

I don’t know if this is still true but I remember in the past that in Wales, when the medicine prescribed was too expensive the Welsh health board wouldn’t cover it and so people rented flats in England to get their treatment covered. Of course things may have changed and please correct me if this is the case.

I'm 63 and get free prescriptions. I'm retired and on a limited private pension . I am not yet in a state pension as I have to be 66. Ironically the suggestion is that it is when people become eligible for the state pension so have extra income, that they will not have to pay. I therefore see the need for a transition period. Maybe any savings could help reduce prescription costs. I remember when the amount you paid was for the whole prescription and not per item.

StephLP

If they stopped prescribing cheap drugs like paracetamol they would save a fortune!

My GPs have a poster up of things they dont usually prescribe. Simple paracetamol and ibuprofen are on the list.

I think they will prescribe for chronic pain where they can prescrobe more at a time than can be bought otc.

Before I was eligible for free prescription medicines I used to buy the annual prepayment card, and as someone said up thread, it cost about £110. That was for all the medicines that I required for a year. I have asthma and need various meds to manage the condition, and also high blood pressure tablets, which keep my BP where it should be. Plus tablets and eye drops to manage allergies, and other meds to manage the depression I fall into without medication. All in all a lot even though the BP tablet has been added since I retired. Now it’s all free but would have cost a lot when I was working and so the prepayment certificate was very handy.

Yes, I just turned 60 and needed a prescription which I got free -yay! And I work full time ..all through the pandemic as I'm a Healthcare assistant, so I welcome it!

All this will mean 8s a lot of people will decide they cannot afford the prescription and do without and obviously suffer the consequences. Its very unfair that England have to oay whilst wales, Scotland and Ireland do not. We also pay hospital parking and Scotland i believe do not, likewise university fees it seems England is treated unfairly.

Ydoc

All this will mean 8s a lot of people will decide they cannot afford the prescription and do without and obviously suffer the consequences. Its very unfair that England have to oay whilst wales, Scotland and Ireland do not. We also pay hospital parking and Scotland i believe do not, likewise university fees it seems England is treated unfairly.

Sorry to repeat myself but if others would read the thread I wouldn't need to.

Health is devolved. Education is devolved. Scotland have decided to spend our money, raised with our taxes, on keeping our people healthy and educating them.

Its our money, we'll decide how to spend it. Write to your MP if you would like similar benefits for England too.

mokryna, as requested, just to confirm that Wales implements the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance when making decisions about non standard prescription medicines, exactly the same as the other UK nations. Each nation has its own National clinical decision making body for new and trial medicines, so sometimes Wales will make a decision before, and sometimes after the English government about a specific medicine, the same applies to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Maybe you need to raise your taxes then your Education is not doing too good. Gone are the days when the Scottish hires were the Gold Standard.
I can remember the days when the Scottish Education system and their teachers were held in such high esteem if you teacher trained in England and did your probationary year there you had to repeat the probationary year if you moved to Scotland even if you were Scots I have friends who had to do it.

If you are on a low income you can fill in a HC1 form and you will either get a HC2 certificate to get free prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests etc or a HC3 certificate to get partial help with dental treatment, eye tests etc.
If you need multiple prescriptions a pre-payment certificate saves you a lot of money.

Maybe you need to raise your taxes then your Education is not doing too good.

Too well.

?

Ilovecheese

So this is the thin end of the wedge towards privatised health care. Not really a surprise.

No it isn’t. It’s just asking us to pay for prescriptions if we are under retirement age and still working. For those who are on benefits or a low income prescriptions will still be free