Payment for prescriptions

GoldenAge

I'm not against means testing in principle but in practice it's difficult to get it right. For example, what happens to the person who just exceeds the threshold and who then finds she falls foul of the crude means testing in respect of travel passes, prescriptions, social care in the home, GP appointments etc., Certainly we know that no administrative machine capable of recognising and responding to these situations and ensuring that that person isn't worse off than someone way below the threshold, would come cheaply. I believe our NHS should be free to all British citizens but I agree that everybody should pay towards their prescribed medication and that can be done by a pre-payment certificate. There is money within the NHS that is totally gobbled up by layers of incompetent management.

I agree that someone just over the threshold will be a victim of means testing, and that this is wrong; but what about someone well over the threshold who is there because she has worked and paid into the system? Should she have to pay when someone who has not worked does not?

Similarly, even if we could institute a system that would keep someone just above a financial threshold in medication, where is the justice in doing so if it penalises those who have saved towards old age and rewards those who have not?

What about people whose partners earn enough to put the couple out of the 'free' prescription category, but earn little or nothing themselves? These will usually be women, and some will be in relationships where they have to ask for every penny. Should these women have to tell their husband about every prescription, (even if they are for personal complaints) to get the money to pay for them? Should they have to rely on their husbands to dole out money for them if they are victims of financial abuse? What if he refuses to hand it over?

As for pre-pad certificates - these are a way of saving money if there is no choice but to pay for prescriptions, but are only available to those who can afford them, and the above concern about financial abuse applies there, too, as does the point that we have already paid through decades of contributions.

Means testing is a crude measure, and whichever way it is done there will be people who lose out - taxation is much fairer (and the NHS is funded by tax anyway - nobody who pays, or has paid NI up to the age of 60 is getting it free. It's bad enough when what is at stake is a bus pass or a TV licence; but medication is vital - nobody should be in a situation where they cannot pay for life-saving medication for any reason, and none of us know the reasons why other people may be in that situation, however they may seem, on the surface, not to 'need the money'.

I am very much against means testing in principle.

MaggsMcG

Baggytrazzas I agree it should be free for everyone. It is in Wales and Scotland. Its unfair. However if this isn't going to happen then its only fair that if someone is still working they pay, the season ticket isn't too bad. However something else I think should happen is anyone that is already getting it free should continue to do so and it should be advertised extensively that as from 2023 anyone reaching their 60th Birthday will have to pay. I dont think its fair to start to charge people that have already stopped paying.

What about people who aren't working but still get a decent income?

Health care in the UK has to be more realistically costed, the current system is way out of date. This means a total reorganisation which successive governments have shied away from. Even here in France where we pay more for health care there are increasing problems.

I was in hospital for 3 weeks once. The food was inedible. A couple of times they brought my lunch while I was off having some test or other, so not only was it inedible, it was cold. One time I brandished the most bizarre pizza you've ever seen at a consultant and asked "Would you eat that?" DH was bringing me hot soup in a flask so that I could actually eat something.

If they think they want to charge patients for hospital food they better get their act together.

Not that its a good idea anyway. It's a daft idea.

I agree with you Doodledog. That's why I think all prescriptions should be free - well, they're not free, of course. People pay taxes, which cover the cost of medical care - so why not include prescriptions? Taxation is generally progressive, so those who could afford more would pay more, but everybody (in theory) would receive the same treatment, including prescriptions. We already have taxation systems in place, so there would be no need for extra layers of bureaucracy.

I would happily pay for visits to a GP and have thought for years it would be a good idea BUT how could this be made fair to all people ie people on benefits etc. The admin involved to sort this out would be tremendous and likely stop ill people making a visit. I wonder if it was a voluntary charge would anybody pay? It would help if the local surgery could keep the money paid in order to maybe employ more doctors/physios/nurses etc but where would these professionals come from? Seems the NHS is only just surviving and intervention is needed and probably the only fair way is via tax increase which at the moment is something most of us might find difficult.

I'm against means testing.
There will be people missing out on medications, I think, if that happens.

I think it's reasonable, why not, why would we feel 'entitled '? Yes we might have paid taxes but we get a lot in return. I think if people realised the true cost of their medication/healtcare they would feel privileged knowing how much they got in return!

A friend who is an NHS consultant was running a clinic at which several foreign women attended. She asked the hospital management what paperwork was needed to be able to charge them. She was told that there was no facility for charging these patients. The NHS lost several thousand pounds due to health tourism. There is a lot to be said for ID cards to prove ones nationality when accessing NHS treatment

Shandy3

I think it's reasonable, why not, why would we feel 'entitled '? Yes we might have paid taxes but we get a lot in return. I think if people realised the true cost of their medication/healtcare they would feel privileged knowing how much they got in return!

I know very well how much my medications cost. I also have a fair idea how much all the scans and tests I've had over the last few weeks have cost plus the cost of the op I'm due to have next week and the aftercare. I feel very lucky that I don't live in the US and I don't have to cut corners, but I don't understand how paying for it now (I've paid a fair bit through taxation over the years!) and recognising my "privilege" would make me value it any more. I'm just so relieved that I'm getting excellent treatment and don't have to worry about financing it.

Shandy3

I think it's reasonable, why not, why would we feel 'entitled '? Yes we might have paid taxes but we get a lot in return. I think if people realised the true cost of their medication/healtcare they would feel privileged knowing how much they got in return!

So everybody should pay a bit more tax. Why not?

As someone whose health condition requires 11 different medications daily, affordability is a big issue. Do we really want to be like the US where people die because they cannot afford healthcare?.

Nonsense.

If medicine is perscribed by a doctor, you need it, and should not have to pay to get it.

Likewise if a stay in hospital is necessary, food, toiletries and bed-clothes should be provided, free of charge.

In Denmark, where we do have a health service that is entirely free of charge and government funded like the NHS, we are paying for these things through our Income tax, council tax and so on. We do actually pay a small amount for medicine when we collect a perscription, but nothing like the actual cost of it. Everything else is free, including nightwear and dressing gowns that hospitals provide. You put them in the dirty linen basket when you dress to go home.

However, it is no good demanding lower taxes if you want these benefits - the money has to come from somewhere. What we can and should do, is to demand that the system is run efficiently.

The NHS will definitely need to create a brand new department to cover these plans, this will involve even more managers and admin staff. As with every new NHS idea the costs seem to far outweigh any benefits.

Cost of prescriptions

My pharmacist said of the essential item prescribed by my GP 'This costs an arm and a leg. I shall order a cheaper version.' I explained that I had tried them all with my chronic complaint ... to no avail. Had to get the doctor to intervene on behalf of his prescription.

waste of medications

When in hospital 3 0r 4 years ago, my husband was seen, just before discharge by a new doctor who insisted upon changing the medications my husband was accustomed to....and which worked for his chronic complaint. A LARGE bag of untried stuff was issued. My husband( ex GP and then Hospital specialist) said he prefered the tried and trusted remedies which had been satisfactory for years and left the bag on his bed.
He was chased down the corridor by a nurse who tried to stuff the bag into his hand. 'I neither want nor need them'
...'but you must take them home' said the nurse
So we did to avoid argument and deposited them in a large cake container until we decided what to do with them.

After a 999 call recently he was taken to the same hospital. One of the ambulance attendants asked what medications he had been on. she searched through the box saying anxiously ....All these are out of date. They must be discarded ' she pushed a large polythene bag full of the stuff she disapproved of into the grip I had packed for husband's stay in hospital saying she would dispose of them
Some hours later I received a call from the hospital pharmacist in a state of panic, asking why my husband had a bag of out of date still sealed drugs in his overnight bag, had he been on those drugs and anyway why were they still sealed and also he could find no record of anyone having prescribed them anywhere

Multiply this by several millions for a repetition of a similar NHS story elsewhere and subtract from the cost of the NHS and also reduce the cost of management anyway and one might have a considerable rebate

widgeon I don't think you could multiply all that many million times.

I've been told to take my own medication into hospital next week.

Most hospitals, including A & E, won't even issue any medications after a patient visit, apart from a few exceptions. Patients have to go to the GP, which I know is a source of irritation.

Sadly the country is no longer the same as when Bevin set up the NHS.
The population has grown massively. The population has aged massively and Medicine has advanced far , far beyond anything Mr Bevin could ever anticipate
For instance, when I qualified as a doctor in 1980 , if you had a heart attack you were either facing rapid death or a long , miserable time of being a cardiac invalid in heart failure.
Now , although some deaths occur so many people are saved by amazing surgical techniques and new medicines. It really amazes me how much difference there is in this single speciality. Multiply that across the board and we simply cannot expect the NHS to be the same as it was in 1948.
GP practice is very different and Consultant's are no longer Gods .
It is no longer possible for the NHS to be" free at the point of contact " as Bevin planned.
I am totally not in favour of private medicine but I do think charging small fees for things like meals and for consultations would be helpful.
As someone said , it might also put off those time wasters ( of which there are a surprising number) who turn up on our door step daily demanding attention for trivia.

My husband was one patient We have 67,000,000 people in the UK. If just 5% were admitted....

The medication bag saga WAS 3-4 years ago Last month nothing was prescribed so you are far more up to date My husband had taken in his own medication on each occasion but the last doctor who saw him disagreed with what the previous one had prescribed... hence the polythene bag

So yes... you are quite right growstuff, situations change. I hope that such wastage of medications cannot occur now

I wish people would not say that they are happy to pay to see the GP, or whatever. You already pay, through your taxes. If the NHS needs more money, put taxes up. I know its not as simple as that, but that is the principle.

No , no and er..no
We all pay into N.I. to pay for NHS.the governments seems to think these contributions are just extra top up for the tax pot and don't ring fence the funds.neither do they have apolitical and cross party consultation and decision making for NHS policies which IMO they absolutely should! NHS is too important for each successive party/minister to muck about with in a "new broom"manner, the waste in NHS is obscene. Has been for decades always will be-why? Too much money sloshing about and inconsistent management of the whole shabang! It needs to be taken OUT of the political arena and kept as an important and unfiddleable entity, not up for grabs by every shark in the pond!

I am happy to pay to see a GP in France, because I haven’t contributed anything over there. Not here.
Gabrielle56 that’s an excellent idea.

Is it fair that we who will be soon better off by some £600 - in two instalments watch as we see millionaires receiving many more times than us. Ken Clark was saying how he did not agree with everyone getting this money. He was receiving £1,100 towards heating his two houses! Will Rishi Sunak and his multimillionaire wife receive money, and will Boris be paid to heat No 10?. Surely that should be a cut off point taking into account the income(s) of the individual homes.

Don't those who would be means tested eg receiving one or other of state benefits eat at home? Why should anyone be penalised for receiving such a basic element of care, the food generally leaves much to be desired. The free prescriptions for all in Scotland was introduced as the cost of administration outweighed the cost of prescriptions. Of course it was reported as a political move to the electorate.

Many would stop visiting Dr's and refusing to go to hospital, we'd go backwards on health care. As for paying for hospital food (having married a retired hospital chef) I'll get my family to bring food in every day. Better for me and cheaper

Yes I would agree with pensioners paying for prescriptions if we had higher pensions. We have one of the lowest in Europe.
I don't agree with people paying if they have a long term condition eg diabetes, cancer, COPD, etc.
We shouldn't have to pay for GP visit, or hospital stays though.
Main problem is not enough people working and therefore not paying NI and tax. People should be forced to take any job if one is available. Too many people not interested in working below their qualification level. That's why we have rotting fruit, flowers and vegetables in the fields.