It wouldn’t be a bad idea if we paid for GP appointments?

40% of people on UC are working.

But this is just derailing the thread.

Apology accepted, am aware there is a plethora of posters as you say incandescent with rage that the working population are no
longer accepting that those fully supported by benefits from tax payers have greater savings and a much better standard of living without having to provide any form of contribution than those subsidising them!

People can save on UC, and you can claim UC if you have less than £16k in savings. A lot of people have savings when they start a claim. They might have been made redundant or something like that. Or sold items they no longer use.

It might have been you that go into an absolute rage over this on another thread... if it was not then I apologise.

Good luck with that. There are huge swathes of the population who are very unhappy with the GP service they are currently receiving and how they are expected to book that appointment. Ring at 8.30am and by the time you manage to speak to someone at 8.55am all the appointments have gone so call again tomorrow type of thing.

We are very fortunate to have a good GP service but I have spoken to two people in the last week who really need to see the doctor but have been putting it off. I suspect there are loads of people in this situation.

Lots of people are really struggling financially. I think the people that come out with these suggestions don’t interact with public at large to have any clue what is going with society at large.

You obviously know a lot more 60-year-old pensioners than I do! Most of the 60-year-olds I know are running marathons! The idea that we're all "falling to pieces a bit" is a nonsense. 75, I'll grant you, but not 60.

How’s this @XenoBitch ‘benefits recipients are unquestionably impeccable, everyone who wants benefits should be given what they ask for without evidence or reproach. Anyone who does question anything should be held to a full on disadulation’?

I have had to pay to see a GP in other countries eg France when unwell on holiday and even if I couldn’t have claimed it back would still have paid just to get the better level of service I experienced
I have struggled so much with getting NHS GP appointments in a reasonable time frame and of a length to discuss my many illnesses that on occasions have been forced to pay privately
My NHS GP has a one issue one appointment policy which whilst I understand the need misses out on the fact my many different issues are actually connected - it took the private one - along with private blood tests to identify one huge issue which my NHS GP was then willing to do something about

To me?
why don’t you just ask hq to make it a caveat that no one can ever say anything negative about benefits?

Charge for no shows. Really dangerous to charge for gp appointment as you find those most at need won't visit the gp

The savings thing was explained to you several times on the other threads.

Why turn this thread into a yet another benefit bashing one?

I think they have something like this in Ireland…

What a load of tosh. Other EU countries work perfectly well with a co pay. The NHS is a disgrace and appalling run with waste everywhere.

To be fair, the majority on UC don't either.

Especially those who are unable to work due to disability/health conditions or care for their disabled child.

Then I agree that they are mightily unreasonable and most unfair.

That said, I do think that there's a very big difference between paying for the same basics that everybody has to as a normal part of life, and considerable 'bad luck of the draw' medical costs that simply do not factor in most people's lives.

Many of us have accepted that we will never be able to leave the UK again, because the insurance premiums based on our medical circumstances are simply far in excess of what we could ever afford; but not being able to go abroad is far removed from the prospect of insurance schemes that could replace the NHS meaning that we can no longer afford to get treatment for long-term health conditions - as is the case for many insulin-dependent diabetics in the USA now.

Exactly the point. The poster was complaining that they weren’t entitled to Uc because of this level of savings.
how many working people have the capacity to save £6k!

If you have £16k in savings, you are no longer entitled to UC. UC money starts reducing when you have £6k in savings and stops completely at £16k.

Same here - I've had several occasions where I've had to put them off badgering me to book another check-up, or cancel one that's approaching, because I simply haven't had the 'only £27' available to pay for it.

not on this thread no, but other threads people are talking about £3.5k monthly incomes, £16k in savings and saying how poor they are on UC and how awful others are for not subsidising their lifestyle!

The thing with paying for stuff is that you don’t need anyone’s permission to do it. Literally no one is stopping you from paying.

www.gov.uk

there you go.

The dentist model. You have to be on a v low income to not pay.
I wasn’t entitled but I was at the stage where I was having to choose between petrol for work or food. So I didn’t go for a decade.

Nobody is saying that people are lucky to have to work long hours and pay taxes.

But what is the answer if people are losing patience and wanting to stop having to subsidise those who have much poorer health than they do, chronic conditions and disabilities, and require extensive, expensive healthcare - and are often, as a direct result, far less able to earn a good enough income to pay for it themselves?

Everyone except children has to pay to make this work.

It's a brilliant idea though A&E and GP should operate the same as the dentist.

Referrals to specialist services free at the point of access.

Or they book but their health is so variable they are too ill to attend, or the carer taking them doesn't turn up. There are so many legitimate reasons that someone who is most in need of an apt is unable to attend.

The thing is, sadly the ‘you just want us to suffer and die!!’ Guilt trip is losing its power. People who are out working 45-50 hr weeks and getting told how lucky they are to do so, and they should be grateful to pay taxes and if they aren’t doing so with a song in their hearts, they are evil and on a par with eugenics supremacists… it’s not working anymore.

Surely you can understand that, for the poorest people, spending a fiver on vapes, beer or lottery tickets is absolutely not an option? It's a bit difficult to make a saving by giving up something that you could never afford in the first place.

It's nothing like the plastic bag levy: it's perfectly possible to ensure that you always have bags with you when you go shopping (although again, easier for people who have cars to leave the bags in); it's rather more difficult to magic money out of thin air.