Peers wanting to remove pensioners' benefits

Fairer for who? The rich getting benefits of this sort doesn't sound like a progressive tax system to me. Don't forget that up until recently our household (on a very good income) could get free prescriptions for things like diarrhoea, athletes’ foot, sore throats, coughs, colds, warts and ulcers - things I could buy for a few quid over the counter but which cost the NHS many millions. I'm sure that if they looked at it again they could shave off a few more things we could buy directly - or they could charge us for prescriptions of course.

Depends on the drug your’re on as well - some prescription only drugs in genetic form are much cheaper than the prescription fee so it could be argued that’s another unfairness - those on cheaper drugs subsidising those on more expensive ones

But it’s still a redistribution from the sick to the sick whilst taxation is a redistribution from the well and the sick to the sick. Much fairer..

Think of it as a contribution by those of us who are in a financial position to do so and don't mind paying £6 (or less) for a drug that would cost many times that in another country or over the counter Mary.

But if you retire below SPA why should you get a BP? Thst not logical at all.

I'm another that has to wait till I'm 66 for my bus pass I have to use buses as I live in Yorkshire lots of hills and I walk with a stick I am only 62 so I have awhile to wait. My hubby has only just got his bus pass we should have the bus passes when we are retired. So we can enjoy going out it's a huge expense just getting there.

There are more ways to raise money for the NHS than taxing the sick.

Yes they're free up here - although many of us wonder why, given that so many of us can afford to pay and the NHS in Scotland could well do with an injection of cash like the rUK.

I’d solve the prescription issue by making them free for everyone - the majority don’t pay anyway and the current exemption system is grossly unfair. Aren’t they free in Wales and Scotland?

I don’t think you can say anyone on £168 per week is “wealthy”

Sorry Kitty perhaps I didn't explain it well. Many of us can afford to pay for prescriptions but if free ones were means tested or simply abolished there would be many who would choose to eat or heat instead of taking the medication. In the long run that would cost the state more.

Sorry, Jaxie

Jodie, I have no intention of voting Conservative, but none of the other parties will change the pension age now it’s been set.

But, nonnie, dh and I could afford to pay £100 pa for prescriptions, which is what I think smile is saying. Leaving more in the pot for those who do need it.

marye still waiting for your answer!

However you also said "I’m fed up of older people thinking they are the only ones who’ve ever worked hard. Life is hard for many young people today. As for another comment on interest rates - god give me strength. Which part of the ratio of house prices to incomes do you not understand?" but it is not as simple as that, you have to look at the bigger picture. House prices are higher for several reasons, one being that both incomes are now taken into account. Other things are a lot cheaper though, clothes (especially school uniforms), food, furniture, white goods. You cannot take house prices in isolation from everything else. The fact remains that some young people are buying houses and it is not only the ones with very highly paid jobs. My own children are buying houses but not take away meals and coffees. They are driving modest, not new, cars and socialise with friends in their homes rather than expensive venues. They have prioritised their homes and families about all the other things some seem to think they are entitled to. Yes, some people will never be able to afford to buy a house, that has always been the case and, yes, life is not fair and it never will be.

You surely can't deny that some posters on here have worked hard for what they have? I haven't seen one of them suggesting that they have worked harder than anyone else but perhaps you can show me where they did?

Smile I don't agree, if pensioners had to pay £100 + for their annual prescriptions it would mean that some wouldn't get the medication they need as they would have to make the choice between meds and food or heating. I say this for the benefit of others as I have had free prescriptions for many years as I have one of the conditions which entitle me to them.

If you don't like these proposed measures then don't vote Conservative.

Actually GG I have read every post on this thread up to the one in which you respond to me. When I haven't read every post I say so.

Yes, I do know NI is just another tax so didn't need the patronisation but thank you anyway.

No, I have not 'chosen to believe' I have information from the government telling me I would get a pension based upon my NI contributions. In fact, because I had children before NI was credited for staying at home to look after them I don't get a full pension. No need for the sarcasm then, need to check your facts.

I don't know on what basis you suggest where my income comes compared to others and I have no intention of telling you but I think your attitude is very unpleasant and it is unworthy to get personal.

Why can't we have a system that makes these benefits income related? My husband and I would be happy to pay say 50 pence for all our journeys on the tube and bus, (we live in London) also we do not need the fuel allowance or the free television. There is huge poverty amongst many pensioners and they should, of course, receive these benefits. The argument that making things income related is too expensive is nonsense, once the system was in place it could be used for other benefits.

maye "WFA and BP should kick in 5 years after SPA - that’s just bonkers imo" I think you have that wrong, I think they come at the same time

Mary - I couldn't agree more.

Pension contributions don't sit in a pot somewhere for you to draw on - they are funded through current taxation of those wastrels walking about with their £4 cups of coffee who are struggling to pay back the many thousands it cost them to go through university (the same universities we went to free of charge) and worrying about how they'll ever get a foot on the property ladder.

And if you’d walked about with a smartphone then you’d clearly have been back to the future. Struth.

Nana How would you describe the money from the state that a 63 year old woman whose worked all her life from 16 and then is made redundant? How would you describe the money that a 35 year old woman receives for caring 24/7 for her severely disabled child? Of course the SP is a benefit - as explained upthread it is not funded from the contributions you put in whilst working. I’m fed up of older people thinking they are the only ones who’ve ever worked hard. Life is hard for many young people today. As for another comment on interest rates - god give me strength. Which part of the ratio of house prices to incomes do you not understand?

It is wrong to talk about anything that pensioners get as 'benefits'. We've worked for all of it, and worked damn hard when times were very different from now. Our mortgage interest when we started out was 15%!! We scrimped for years to save a bit. We didn't have the kids till we could afford for me to give up work to look after them till they went to school. We didn't walk about with a smart phone in one hand and a £4.00 cup of coffee in the other hand. Some pensioners are better off than others, but that's because they saved as they went along. I actually wish to God now that we'd spent every penny as it came in.

I am a WASPI also and was eagerly awaiting all the benefits of being 60, what a let down in having to wait an extra 6 years though as eager as i was to gain my bus pass it wouldnt have much use as the public transport where i live is awful. but why is it if you live in scotland or wales so many of these benefits at 60 are still available to them, and the government is based in London, how unfair is that i ask