What happens if you can't afford your medication?

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I can btw, this is not a begging thread, but I'm taking the money from my savings, and I don't always have money in my savings, which has got me pondering.

If I didn't have savings and my asthma medication ran out, is there a scheme where I can buy now, pay later, or is it a case of risking death or needing A&E?

Are there any other life-saving medications you have to pay for, or is it just asthma? I know my mum gets free prescriptions because she needs thyroid medication, but that doesn't seem as serious or life-threatening as asthma to me.

What's the criteria for a medication being free, and why doesn't it seem to make sense?

There’s a multitude of horrible ways that I will die if I do not take levothyroxine. Same for epilepsy, diabetes requiring insulin, cancer etc.

Asthma is a potential that you could die if you stop taking medication, but not guaranteed. That’s the difference.

Ask your GP to prescribe 3 months medication at a time.

I would absolutely die without my asthma meds, what a ridiculous statement.

Ours won't as it's against NHS policy. I am on medication for life but still have to get it every 28 days regardless.

Pre payment certificate would cost you the same but if you ever need extra medication like antibiotics they would be included, so probably worth doing.

There are a lot of essential medications which are not free such as blood thinners.

Asthma prescription charges ‘cost my daughter her life’ says grieving mother | Metro News https://share.google/8x4tyynv2rQXUzum6

Sorry you have to deal with this. In Scotland it’s free. And wales.

And Northern Ireland. It's only in England you have to pay for prescriptions.

A prepayment certificate is around £11 a month, I take 2 x different tablets a day, weekly injections and inhalers so I saves me a fortune.

If you only have one medication a month it’s more costly. It’s one of the things I’ll be buying for my kids when they leave home.

Not ridiculous, it’s a fact. Its probably really high probability that you’d die without it, but it’s not an absolute certainty - evidenced by the fact that it’s not free.

• Risk of stopping: If you stop taking your preventer inhaler, the underlying inflammation in your airways will return, making them more sensitive to triggers and significantly increasing your risk of a severe, potentially fatal, asthma attack.

UC does not automatically make you eligible for free prescriptions.

The prepayment certificate is no cheaper for just 1 item a month

I have been stung in the past when I have had to pay for 2 lots of 3 day courses of antibiotics (1 didnt clear it up )
GPs like to prescribe the shortest course (resistance concerns are greater than financial )
It is not fair how Scotland, Wales and NI have it free but NOT US !

Get a credit card and just use it for emergencies. £9.50 for a prescription is cheap. People in other countries pay far, far more for medicines.

My prescription is two months’ at a time but still costs £30. I could get a prepayment certificate

Are you low income op, if so as posted up thread the nhs has a scheme and presciptions are free, if you’re not then you need to budget to pay for essentials. Like heating, meds and food.

Levothyroxine is the same, though? Some people would die without it, some people don't. My mum is always missing hers because she says she is too busy to go and collect or she forgets, whereas if I forget to go and collect my inhaler, I notice straightaway because I start getting breathless, particularly at night.

I probably wouldn't die, but I would be very uncomfortable. I'm not dismissing how serious thyroid problems can be, btw, I'm just pointing out that asthma is the same.

I probably wouldn't die if I didn't have my inhaler; it's a possibility, but unlikely. My dad would be dead within hours if he didn't have his.

Asthma meds don't just start and stop with inhalers, they include oral steroids and biologics, for instance.

You could ask your surgery to prescribe two inhalers each time then you would save £9.50 every other month. The prescription charge is per item, regardless of how many of each item you get. I get two months supply of all my meds each time.

I take it that you've never had an asthma attack. Its one of the most terrifying experiences. Uncontrolled asthma definitely leads to a shorter life expectancy and it's horrible watching people die from asthma related conditions.

I've never understood why its not free.

I mean in short ‘if you use critical medication, prioritise the £9.50 in your budget’

As a second port of call, I’d say ask your mum and dad if you haven’t got the money left.

Honestly I think any friend, colleague or neighbour would probably help you out with £9.50 to ensure you had your medication.

I wonder this too. I've got a drawer full of half used medication because I've got a poorly understood women's health condition and I seem to be intolerant to synthetic hormones that they tend to use to treat it. We've tried various medications over the years that I've had to stop because of an adverse reaction (sometimes after half a packet, sometimes as quickly as after one tablet)! I am in Scotland so get free prescriptions, but if I wasn't I'd have wasted a lot of my own money over the years.

I have hypothyroidism and I could die without my meds, but I completely agree with you OP.

It doesn't make much sense.

I think you need to make an appointment with your asthma nurse, as it doesn’t seem like your asthma is being managed correctly. Unless you have a MART inhaler, you should always be prescribed a preventer and a reliever. Having to wait until you need a blue one to get a prescription is bonkers.

I’m on a MART regime where you use the same inhaler for prevention and relief, and I get 2 a month automatically prescribed. If I don’t need them, I just don’t order them, but I’ve got the option. I’d be terrified to have to rely on borrowing one from someone.

No it wouldn't. 1 prescription a month for a year is 12 x £9.90 = £18.80. A year's prescriptions on cert is £114.50.

I have an underactive thyroid and I have to take the mediation for the rest of my life. In your eyes it may not be as serious or as life threatening (and I appreciate asthma is a serious condition), but please don’t minimise something else that others have to live with and struggle through.

The OP isn't minimising.

She's saying that we might/might not die without our thyroid meds.

And that she might/might not die without her asthma meds.

So why do we get free prescriptions for life and she doesn't?