Prescription Charges

Doodledog

growstuff

In that case, you presumably think your MIL should receive the same benefits as her friend.

Maybe. I don’t know. I suppose that’s an argument for UBI.

It just think that when people go on about others being ‘able to afford’ things they lose sight of the fact that for many people, affording one thing means doing without something else - it’s so short sighted. I am not arguing for anyone to face cuts, though.

So if you're not arguing that some people should have cuts, but that everybody should receive the same, you must be implying that everybody should receive the same as those on benefits currently do ... unless you have some other solution, which I haven't thought about.

I think that prescriptions should be free to everyone, and that no 'in kind' benefits, such as bus passes and social care should be means tested.

I didn't say that everyone should receive 'the same'.

Do you have more than £16,000 in savings, investments or property?
The property you live in doesn't count.

from the same form.
it;s not yearly income, it's total savings, which are needed if one has to live on less than ten pounds a day, to pay bills, upkeep etc.
so its still a no. but someone might not have known of the scheme.
as usual, the devil is in the detail.
some people cannot imagine how others live and just make sweeping statements.
not you growstuff.

Yes, £16000 is not a lot when it has to pay for so much.

I don't know how people think they can tell others what they can afford. It's not just that it's impossible to know, it's intrusive and presumptuous; and in the end, the result will be to reduce everyone but the rich to poverty, which is what I think the aim of means testing is to do.

Nanna, thank you, I have completed the form.

Prescriptions are also free for everyone here in NI and have been for about 12 years. I get 14 prescriptions each month and appreciate this.
I think the cost of administering them may be part of the reasoning.

welbeck

Do you have more than £16,000 in savings, investments or property?
The property you live in doesn't count.

from the same form.
it;s not yearly income, it's total savings, which are needed if one has to live on less than ten pounds a day, to pay bills, upkeep etc.
so its still a no. but someone might not have known of the scheme.
as usual, the devil is in the detail.
some people cannot imagine how others live and just make sweeping statements.
not you growstuff.

welbeck If you have more than £16,000 in savings it's true that you won't receive help with prescription costs, although just over £2 a week would be the least of my worries.

Thank you for excluding me from your criticism welbeck, as I am well aware how difficult it is to live on a low income. My savings are below £16,000. My income (including pension) is only just over the threshold for paying tax. I am not eligible for Pension Credit. I have to pay rent and my income after housing costs is less than £100 a week, which I use for bills, food, my car and everything else.

I agree with you that some posters really don't have a clue.

Doodledog

I think that prescriptions should be free to everyone, and that no 'in kind' benefits, such as bus passes and social care should be means tested.

I didn't say that everyone should receive 'the same'.

Well, what are you saying? If people aren't means tested, those in need receive nothing or you give everybody the same.

Not if there are no means tests for 'in kind' benefits. I don't know if that is the right term, but I mean 'things' as opposed to cash, if that makes sense? So bus passes, prescriptions and so on - as well as social care, which I also believe should be free.

I may be being over-sensitive, but you have said on here before that you think I have no right to an opinion about these things as I have never lived on the poverty line, so I am wondering if the last line of your last post was a dig at me. It's true that I haven't. I have never been rich, either, but I still feel that I have a right to an opinion, don't you?

Oh, and I also believe that everyone should have a decent pension, so there is no need to have Pension Credit.

I cannot see why the tax system is not used more to iron out some of the differences as to who should receive what. I don’t know if it is still done today but when I was young there was a clawback system used for family allowance. It was paid to the mother and the father through the tax system paid it back via clawback if he earned enough. My father explained this to me and the system was still in place when I had my children. If everyone had things such as the bus pass to use people with a larger income could pay a form of clawback.
I think all prescriptions should be free - if you are unlucky enough to get cancer the drugs can cost easily a couple of thousand pounds per cycle - in other words every three weeks. This amount does not include the drugs administered at the hospital.
Here in France everything to do with cancer is paid for by the State but you do still get a statement showing how much scans and medication cost - also the cost of staying in hospital etc. In my case the initial stay in hospital cost about £13k and only something like a thousand of that was the cost of the room and food. The first prescription was between £2-3 k.
People who are ill should not have the worry of paying for their prescriptions on top of everything else.

Doodledog

Not if there are no means tests for 'in kind' benefits. I don't know if that is the right term, but I mean 'things' as opposed to cash, if that makes sense? So bus passes, prescriptions and so on - as well as social care, which I also believe should be free.

I may be being over-sensitive, but you have said on here before that you think I have no right to an opinion about these things as I have never lived on the poverty line, so I am wondering if the last line of your last post was a dig at me. It's true that I haven't. I have never been rich, either, but I still feel that I have a right to an opinion, don't you?

I'm sorry, but I still don't understand you. You're saying that all "benefits in kind" should be stopped and presumably replaced with a cash payment. Presumably this cash payment would go to everyone, whether they needed it or not.

I don't remember saying that you have no right to an opinion, but you do seem somewhat muddled in your thinking about those on low incomes.

Doodledog

Oh, and I also believe that everyone should have a decent pension, so there is no need to have Pension Credit.

How would you pay for it?

Welshwife

1 Family Allowance is now called Child Credit and it's clawed back from high earners.

2 Nobody receiving NHS treatment in the UK pays thousands of pounds for a prescription.

No I am not saying they should be stopped. I am saying they should not be means tested. Universal. Free to everyone.

I may or may not be muddled in my thinking. I'm not pretending to be an economist or a politician, I am discussing on a discussion board.

What I am saying is not that I want people on low incomes to suffer - in fact I would rather there were much higher benefits and pensions - but that I do not approve of systems that take away from people who have saved into pensions simply because they have done so.

That does not mean that I am not aware that there are those who have not been able to afford to save. It just means that I think that those who have done so should see the benefit of their savings - the two are not incompatible.

We are a rich country, and everyone should have a decent standard of living. I would 'pay for' a better pension system by taxing at a higher rate, scrapping the 'household income' benefit system and replacing it with individual taxation for all adults who are not exempt, and individual rights to benefits and pensions.

That may not be something you (or many people!) would vote for, but as this is just a discussion and not a manifesto, I don't see why it matters.