Pensions ,Prescriptions & Racheal Reeve’s

theworriedwell

Doodledog

Well yes. Isn’t that obvious? Medicine and medical research are expensive. This is why it makes sense for us all to ‘club together’ and pay for it collectively, with treatment based on clinical need. When people start to break away from that model and want preferential treatment based on ability to pay, they soon find out that being on the wrong side of a profit-based system isn’t fun.

I agree and I think if King Charles, Boris Johnson and anyone with money/influence had to join the queue with everyone else they'd soon make sure things improved.

Keir Starmer.

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.

Doodledog

Well yes. Isn’t that obvious? Medicine and medical research are expensive. This is why it makes sense for us all to ‘club together’ and pay for it collectively, with treatment based on clinical need. When people start to break away from that model and want preferential treatment based on ability to pay, they soon find out that being on the wrong side of a profit-based system isn’t fun.

I agree and I think if King Charles, Boris Johnson and anyone with money/influence had to join the queue with everyone else they'd soon make sure things improved.

TakeThat7

I think people are often on eight or more prescriptions at 60 such as statins something for çramp and all the things that older people get prescriptions for I've been on a lot for years fortunately I'm too old I think to be affected by this possible change I was on alot at 60 though

Really? I'm in my 70s and don't know anyone like that. I am on levothyroxine as I have an underactive thyroid but I've been on it since my 40s so that wasn't to do with hitting 60. I was offered a prescription for paracetamol when I fell and twisted my back and had pain but I laughed at the doctor, it costs pennies so no idea why I'd want a prescription. We had words about it and he insisted on issuing the prescription which I reluctantly accepted and binned. My husband is almost 80, has been disabled for well over 30 years and even he only has 5 items on his prescription list but only has two of them regularly. I do get cramp and when I mentioned that to GP she just said get some magnesium. Sensible woman.

I'm quite shocked if it is considered common to have 8 items.

escaped

My attitude has always been, that I am more than willing to pay more for someone else to benefit from treatment, precisely because I am grateful not to be in that situation myself. The preferential treatment is a separate issue.

Is it? That's very generous.

If you aren't looking for preferential treatment there are plenty of charities who would take your money and put it towards research. That way all of it would be spent on ensuring more people can benefit from medical advantages, and the queues would be managed according to need, not in accordance with who can buy a place at the top of them.

My attitude has always been, that I am more than willing to pay more for someone else to benefit from treatment, precisely because I am grateful not to be in that situation myself. The preferential treatment is a separate issue.

Well yes. Isn’t that obvious? Medicine and medical research are expensive. This is why it makes sense for us all to ‘club together’ and pay for it collectively, with treatment based on clinical need. When people start to break away from that model and want preferential treatment based on ability to pay, they soon find out that being on the wrong side of a profit-based system isn’t fun.

I had private medical insurance until recently, and interestingly the reason for our monthly payments increasing significantly was due to the cost of drugs. They explained that more and more people within the scheme were receiving treatment for various cancers. I think they meant that more innovating treatments were constantly becoming available, but of course this comes at a huge cost and someone has to pay.

TakeThat7

I think people are often on eight or more prescriptions at 60 such as statins something for çramp and all the things that older people get prescriptions for I've been on a lot for years fortunately I'm too old I think to be affected by this possible change I was on alot at 60 though

Agreed, but 'season tickets' are available to reduce the cost, and whereas it would be great if we could all get free prescriptions, people of 60-66 are working age, and unless they are eligible for benefits (eg for disability) if they are treated the same as other working age people there would be scope for giving expensive drugs to sick children which are currently denied.

Sorry for the misunderstanding here MrsMatt.

(I've written myself about being taxed when you withdraw money from your pension pot as amounts or % could be changed)

I wrongly assumed you meant they were planning to tax on the actual awarded pension pot itself.

I think people are often on eight or more prescriptions at 60 such as statins something for çramp and all the things that older people get prescriptions for I've been on a lot for years fortunately I'm too old I think to be affected by this possible change I was on alot at 60 though

Surely prescriptions should be free for the over 60's because the older we get the more likely we are to get health conditions requiring several different medications which can work out very expensive.

Wyllow3

Where is there mention of tax on taking money from your pension pot? Reference please.

This post is really no different from the summer of accusations and speculation/scsremongering repeated at least 20 times....

There has always been a tax on withdrawing a lump sum from a private pension. You can withdraw 25% tax-free, and the remaining 75% is taxable.

I don't know about taxing the state pension but it wouldn't surprise me.

Oreo

Is looking like NI will go up for employers , as KS refuses to rule it out.

Being an employer I have been keeping a close eye on this, KS and various ministers have avoided answering and have not categorically denied it will happen as they have regarding bus passes.

I recently read "Love on the Dole" by Walter Greenwood. This book is set in the 30s in the Salford area and details what life was like for our parents or grandparents generations.

In the book, most of the men are employed in a very large engineering factory. One of the main characters is a schoolboy desperately wants to work at the factory so that he can become an engineer, rather than try to get an office job as his parents would like him to do. Practices that were common then still happen, such as firing someone when they got to a certain age. As described by a GNer above.

I really don't think that my generation and younger lived under the conditions as described in the book. I recommend it.

Taxation in all its forms is used to improve all our lives, one way or another. The contributions paid by my GPs provided healthcare and education for my parents and this has happened to the subsequent generations.

Unfortunately when pensions were first introduced life expectancy was short. Move forward to us baby boomers who have benefited from free health care and education. As a consequence of the former our life expectancy has grown and we are living much longer. Advances in health care have contributed towards life expectancy for the young and old.

We expect this but are not always prepared to pay the necessary taxes to bring this about. Why? Because we may say we don't mind paying more taxes but really, we would like to keep our money for ourselves.

I live in France where taxes are higher than in the UK and we also contribute towards our health care. The system is different in that the state pays a percentage, we contribute to a mutuel and may have to pay extra if the professional's fee for example, is not covered by the mutuel. The contributions for myself and my DH are about 255 euros per month. These are dependent upon age. For young adults they could be around 30 euros per month.

My DH and I have both had operations this year and when we came home from hospital a nurse came in every day for 2 or 3 weeks to give us anti coagulant jabs, to take our blood pressure, to change dressings and to remove stitches if necessary and just to check up on us. This really helps one's state of mind.

The Conservative Party have regularly raised the retirement age but seemed to forget about raising the free prescription charge. Strange when you think about it. As they were always clobbering pensioners.
If they had stayed in power then a good few of us would never have lived to claim our pensions.

Totally agree

Oreo I said that older people tend to become more right-wing, not that all pensioners vote Conservative. But many have done while the Conservatives were favouring them.
I'm 79 and a Lib Dem activist.

Oreo

Is looking like NI will go up for employers , as KS refuses to rule it out.

He hasn’t given anything away about anything though, so it might not be the case, who knows. If it is, I doubt if it will be until April 2025 in the new tax year. I wouldn’t work for HMRC for a gold clock.

growstuff

icanhandthemback But surely if her total income is below about £14,000 a year and she has minimal savings, she should be eligible for an HC2 certificate. Have you checked?

She has checked but her husband's income puts them just above the amount as a joint household. They are in that precarious place where they are just over the threshold but don't have enough to live on when you have regular expenses like this.

jocork they could easily means test it ( WFA) and in any case the child allowance is means tested.

Is looking like NI will go up for employers , as KS refuses to rule it out.

Romola

The Conservatives used to favour pensioners because in later life, people tend to become more right-wing, also because pensioners are more likely to vote than other age groups.
Labour needs to appeal to the working-age population, some of whom have voiced resentment at the Conservatives' generosity to pensioners.

So pensioners like my Mum, a lifelong Labour voter btw don’t matter?
Younger people have an entitled view of lots of things in life but should remember they'll be old themselves one day.

The Telegraph article doesn’t say that the prescription exemption is going to be scrapped. It’s speculation, which they excel at..

rafichagran

Wyllow3

😂 here we go, "rumour has it".....

"I've heard that"

"I read that"

They are discussing it on Jeremy Vine, Harriet Harmon is on the panel. She has stated that nothing at the moment has/will be done about it. The callers are very irate though.

www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/reeves-urged-scrap-free-prescriptions-60-65-year-olds/?fbclid=IwY2xjawF0yHdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTmabwaob9_UBX2LzNDUb3cUhhTWqOUurJsOiu3Kg5O4kuorUCWGLcvypA_aem_xIdrgrE_1VbAOwhh6oohNQ