Pensions ,Prescriptions & Racheal Reeve’s

Well under 4p a day is a bargain if you need med regularly isn't it?

Yes I think there is a discussion to be had about free prescriptions for some conditions and not others, I have no idea how they make that decision but I think the even stranger thing is getting all meds free even if they aren't connected to your qualifying condition.

However, I thought we were talking about removing the free concessions for 60 to 66 year olds and lining it up with State Pension age so talking about working age adults. Presumably a 60 year old on a very low income would get the same help as an 18, 40 or 50 year old which seems fair to me. I don't see why one age group of working age adults should be treated differently to other age groups of working age adults. Yes a 60 year old might be on a low income, so might a 30 year old, a 60 year old might be on lots of med and so might a 30 year old. What is so special about being 60 rather than 59?

theworriedwell

theworriedwell

growstuff

Doodledog

I’m not disagreeing with you, theworriedwell. I don’t think allowances should be based on age. I was objecting to the way the cost of a ‘season ticket’ was broken down to an amount that sounds cheap when people are not able to pay in that amount.

4 x 3 month prepayment certificates cost quite a bit more than a 12 month certificate, so poorer people are being penalised.

It is £15.50 per year extra to pay it in the 4 payments. If you are one of the 60 year olds on 8 items a month that is a bargain as the 3 month certificate is cheaper than paying for 4 items.

It isn't unusual to pay a bit extra to have things in installments or for less time as there is an admin cost.

Sorry I transposed a 0 and a 5. The 4 x 3 months certificates cost an extra £13.70 per year compared to the 12 month certificate. So it is a fraction over 26p a week extra.

Why not go the whole hog and say it's under 4p a day extra.
Given you think the season ticket is such an affordable bargain couldn't that be a justification to withdraw the concession of free prescriptions allowed for some lifelong conditions, given they aren't issued for all lifelong conditions?

theworriedwell

growstuff

Doodledog

I’m not disagreeing with you, theworriedwell. I don’t think allowances should be based on age. I was objecting to the way the cost of a ‘season ticket’ was broken down to an amount that sounds cheap when people are not able to pay in that amount.

4 x 3 month prepayment certificates cost quite a bit more than a 12 month certificate, so poorer people are being penalised.

It is £15.50 per year extra to pay it in the 4 payments. If you are one of the 60 year olds on 8 items a month that is a bargain as the 3 month certificate is cheaper than paying for 4 items.

It isn't unusual to pay a bit extra to have things in installments or for less time as there is an admin cost.

Sorry I transposed a 0 and a 5. The 4 x 3 months certificates cost an extra £13.70 per year compared to the 12 month certificate. So it is a fraction over 26p a week extra.

growstuff

Doodledog

I’m not disagreeing with you, theworriedwell. I don’t think allowances should be based on age. I was objecting to the way the cost of a ‘season ticket’ was broken down to an amount that sounds cheap when people are not able to pay in that amount.

4 x 3 month prepayment certificates cost quite a bit more than a 12 month certificate, so poorer people are being penalised.

It is £15.50 per year extra to pay it in the 4 payments. If you are one of the 60 year olds on 8 items a month that is a bargain as the 3 month certificate is cheaper than paying for 4 items.

It isn't unusual to pay a bit extra to have things in installments or for less time as there is an admin cost.

maddyfour

I would think Attendance Allowance has no mobility component because Attendance Allowance is not means tested. Therefore it is meant as a help towards the extra living costs incurred by older people who need some help around the house, or with personal care, in order to keep them independent. It used to be called Independent Living Allowance which explains its point somewhat better. My mother was able to claim Attendance Allowance for many years because she was unable to do certain things as she got older, because she had certain conditions. For example, she couldn’t wash her own hair, which necessitated a weekly visit to the hairdresser. She could no longer do her own gardening or housework, and so she needed help with those. She suffered from a number of conditions which made it impossible for her to do these tasks herself. However, although she was unable to walk far, because she had a heart condition, she could still drive and use her car. She finally stopped using her car at age 91. She didn’t need a mobility allowance, she needed help and support to live reasonably independently.

PIP isn't means tested.

Just to give an example my husband is disabled, he has been disabled for over 30 years. He gets DLA as he was on it before retirement age and I believe that is the same rule for PIP. If I had a medical condition start today that had exactly the same symptoms and problems I could claim attendance allowance which is great. The problem is I would get roughly £300 a month less help than he gets. Now I don't know if the conclusion would be he and people like him are getting too much or people like the imaginary me are getting too little but it is clear that we wouldn't be being treated equally.

My husband's £300 a month finances his car which does improve his mobility. Due to pain and reduced movement he can't get in or out of a small car so we have a big car, high off the ground which means he can get in and out and gives him mobility. We would still have a car if he didn't get that £300 but it would probably be older and less reliable but we would be lucky as some disabled pensioners won't be able to afford a car.

Doodledog

I’m not disagreeing with you, theworriedwell. I don’t think allowances should be based on age. I was objecting to the way the cost of a ‘season ticket’ was broken down to an amount that sounds cheap when people are not able to pay in that amount.

4 x 3 month prepayment certificates cost quite a bit more than a 12 month certificate, so poorer people are being penalised.

I’m not disagreeing with you, theworriedwell. I don’t think allowances should be based on age. I was objecting to the way the cost of a ‘season ticket’ was broken down to an amount that sounds cheap when people are not able to pay in that amount.

I would think Attendance Allowance has no mobility component because Attendance Allowance is not means tested. Therefore it is meant as a help towards the extra living costs incurred by older people who need some help around the house, or with personal care, in order to keep them independent. It used to be called Independent Living Allowance which explains its point somewhat better. My mother was able to claim Attendance Allowance for many years because she was unable to do certain things as she got older, because she had certain conditions. For example, she couldn’t wash her own hair, which necessitated a weekly visit to the hairdresser. She could no longer do her own gardening or housework, and so she needed help with those. She suffered from a number of conditions which made it impossible for her to do these tasks herself. However, although she was unable to walk far, because she had a heart condition, she could still drive and use her car. She finally stopped using her car at age 91. She didn’t need a mobility allowance, she needed help and support to live reasonably independently.

Doodledog

Agreed, but as has been pointed out, you can’t buy them weekly (or monthly). They can only be bought quarterly or annually, which represents a significant outlay for someone on a low income.

But not everyone aged 60 and over is on a low income. If we are talking about equalising free prescriptions with SRP age then we have people of 60 to 66, many in good or reasonable health, many still working, so why would they be any more in need of automatic free prescriptions than say an 18 year old care leaver living in a bedsit earning minimum wage, let's remember minimum wage for them would be £8.60 an hour so for a 36 hr week that would be just under £310 per week and they'd pay tax and NI from that so less than £300 a week to live on and probably a lot less if they are on a zero hours contract and the and 16 to 24 year olds are the most likely age group to be on zero hours contracts. The 60 year old could earn the same working 27 hours a week. Or maybe a single mother with two children, she'd probably like some help as well.

I don't accept that everyone over 60 or 66 is one of the "most vulnerable" in society. There are a lot of vulnerable babies, children, young disabled out there. I'm a pensioner but I don't think I deserve special treatment just because of my date of birth but I would be happy to be treated the same as anyone else regardless of age.

We don't have limitless amounts of money and until that improves I think help should be targeted and that means I won't be one of the ones getting help so not arguing for myself.

Rather than wanting free prescriptions for people of 60 to 66 I'd be more interested in a campaign to help disabled pensioners, I can't understand why Attendance allowance has no mobility component like DLA, are we expected to be housebound because we hit 66? Again not relevant to me but it strikes me as very unfair.

I do think some help with staging the payments for the prepayment for prescriptions would be useful, maybe giving people time to build up to the full payment or like the TV licence where you can go onto monthly payments.

This is what worries me about the euthanasia idea.

Jaxjacky

I don’t know how much prescription medication my friends and siblings take, not a subject we’ve discussed.

We moved from a big city to a small seaside town. Friends and family stay on a frequent basis, I often say I'm running a guest house but no one pays the bill as they leave. I see people taking their meds, I see their pills lined up in the kitchen where they leave them so they can go and get a drink and take them. I don't discuss it, I observe it.

You posted while I was typing Doodledog

David49

The current annual prescription cost is around £2 a week if you don’t currently qualify for an exemption, that is ridiculously low. Those of us with dogs know how much medicines really cost, so prescription costs do need to be seriously reviewed.

Why not say it costs about 30p a day for a prepaid season ticket, that makes it sound even more affordable? That your quoted weekly rate can't actually be paid weekly is relevant. I know people who have pets who 'shop around' for pet medication because costs vary so much. Are you suggesting a similar option for humans?

Most on this site are very entitled and think they have the right to free everything and someone else will pay. There are very very few who accept that it all has to be paid for, the outrage in posts about WFA being restricted by £2 a week, when the pension has increased by £7

Who are these 'most' who are very entitled? WFA is either £200 or £300, that equates to either £4 or £6 a week not £2, and any pension increase will be in April 2025, it hasn't gone up yet.
Some of us for whom this isn't a problem can empathise with those for whom it will be a great problem, it's a shame you are incapable of such empathy or concern.

Of course things need to be paid for and that burden should fall on those able to pay, not those already struggling just to survive.

Agreed, but as has been pointed out, you can’t buy them weekly (or monthly). They can only be bought quarterly or annually, which represents a significant outlay for someone on a low income.

The current annual prescription cost is around £2 a week if you don’t currently qualify for an exemption, that is ridiculously low. Those of us with dogs know how much medicines really cost, so prescription costs do need to be seriously reviewed.

I don’t know how much prescription medication my friends and siblings take, not a subject we’ve discussed.

Yes, that's a much more manageable amount.

Hopefully £32.50 for 3 months is a bit easier to find. For those people with 8 items it will more than pay for itself in month one.

Regardless of whether one person finds the cost of prescriptions easy to cover, they are difficult for others.

If you have barely enough to live on, of course 100+ pounds is going to be hard to find, especially if you're without a partner or spouse.

TakeThat7

So someone above finds it hard to believe a person over sixty could be on a lot of prescriptions because they are seventy and well themselves I'm on alot but would never have requested paracetomal I can buy that thanks very cheaply I very rarely go to the doctors I'm not some soppy person looking to be ill but life happens and some older people need a lot of prescriptiond

No you are twisting that. I was replying to a post saying over 60s are often on 8 or more. I'm not sure what percentage equates to often but I don't know anyone in my age bracket getting that much medication. Doesn't mean I don't believe some do but I question the often.

Rosie51

theworriedwell

I haven't paid for prescriptions since my underactive thyroid was diagnosed, a perk of having the condition. I just looked up how much a season ticket costs and it is under £10 a month if you buy a 12 month ticket, if you are on 8 items a month that is a real bargain.

And that's something that is inherently unfair. Your thyroid medication could be provided free on its own individual prescription, leaving you to pay for anything else. It's a mystery how they decide why some lifelong conditions qualify for this "perk" and not others. Asthmatics don't get free prescriptions despite needing medication just to be able to breathe.
As for the season ticket, it's all well and good quoting a 'per month' cost, but you can't pay monthly, you need to be able to afford the lump sum up front, not evrybody can manage that.

I don't know why we get all meds free if we have an underactive thryoid, don't know about overactive. As I'm in my 70s it hasn't been relevant for some time.

You don't have to pay for 12 months up front, you can get a 3 month certificate but I agree it would be useful if it could be monthly but I suppose the admin costs add up.

I have never complained about paying for my asthma medication all through my life until I was sixty. During part of that time, I was not working, but I still paid, and I didn’t complain. I always bought the prepaid certificate, and over ten years ago, when I was still buying it, it was over £100 so actually, it’s not gone up very much over those years.

However I have wondered why asthmatics pay for their life saving medications, whilst those with other life long conditions, don’t pay. That does seem strange.

I also find the fact that Wales and Scotland get free medication for everyone, whilst those in England do not, to be very unfair. We are either a United Kingdom, or we are not!

Whitewavemark2

My DHs prescription since 2012 would have totally bankrupted us by now and like many in USA we would have lost our house.

I am eternally grateful for the welfare state and the NHS, and if we need to pay more for it - so be it. Imagine what private insurance would cost together with the fact that many would not be able to secure insurance for their condition.

WW the annual prescription exemption is currently around £114 past years it was much less. So it shouldn’t have been a burden, all other countries have insurance systems plus a welfare provision for those that don’t have insurance.

Wyllow3

😂 here we go, "rumour has it".....

"I've heard that"

"I read that"

Rumours make the world go round - after all, if we sat around relying solely on official government statements for our information then we would really be up the creek. Especially if we were naive enough to think "but the government said so - it MUST be the truth!", eh Wyllow3 'Reference Please'.

My DHs prescription since 2012 would have totally bankrupted us by now and like many in USA we would have lost our house.

I am eternally grateful for the welfare state and the NHS, and if we need to pay more for it - so be it. Imagine what private insurance would cost together with the fact that many would not be able to secure insurance for their condition.