What happens if you can't afford your medication?

[Frequency]

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?

Asthma is often exacerbated with cold indoor temperatures.

I’m always amazed how little these are publicised.

Talk to your Dr/nurse about this ask them to add another inhaler to your prescription. They can issue 2 on 1 script

When kids were young and money incredibly tight - mainly down to money pit house and unexpected expenses - I tried to plan but being ill on top of asthma often meant additional percription charges and it was often that which went into overdraft or something else waited or tried to wait or at least one family stepped in and paid for me.

I know IL mentioned at one point their retired friends having to help out some family with perscription charges who were not eligible for help but temperialri struggling.

Then we moved to Wales and I confused the hell out of the chemist trying to pay. Ironically our finances had improved with the move and it wasn't the issue it had been prior.

If think you have to get 14 items a year for the prepaid certifcates to be cheaper - at least worked out for one perscription a month they weren't cheaper.

It's historical. If your body is unable to make something to survive ie thyroid hormones, endocrine hormones, insulin then the medication is free

The prepayment thing covers 12 prescriptions a year as I remember. If you have one prescription a month it’s worth getting unless you’re certain you won’t need any other prescription meds for the next year.

Not everyone has enough slack in their budget to make that kind of up front payment.

OP you need to think of your prescription costs as a priority bill, rather than waiting to see if there's any money left at the end of the month. Mortgage/rent first priority, then council tax, then prescription, then utilities, then any insurance costs and any other necessaries. Money allocated for all these first, then whatever is left is your budget for food etc.

I’m in the exact same situation - asthmatic with a mother on thyroxine which she gets for free. I have often wondered this. I would certainly have been regularly hospitalised, if not dead, if I hadn’t had access to inhalers. I’ve had asthma for nearly 40 years. I don’t understand how it doesn’t fall under the category of chronic condition and qualify for free prescriptions.

You can pay in 10 installments, that's £11.4 a month. Slightly more than 1 prescription. Perhaps still not possible but worth considering

Wouldn't you be better off having an annual prepayment certificate? You can spread the cost over the year by monthly direct debit.

I think this just comes down to budgeting correctly. If you know you need something monthly then you should budget accordingly. I am asthmatic myself and yes sometimes it’s got to the end of the month and I haven’t quite got enough for an inhaler so I wait a few days. But this is very much a self induced problem. I don’t expect free meds just because it’s an ongoing condition. We all know the NHS is in dire straits I’m pretty sure my £9.50 is a minute contribution towards the full cost of the inhaler. Individuals should take responsibility for their own health.

The pre payment plan is £11 something a month so if you only need one item per month it isn't cheaper. However if you need two one off extras at any point throughout the year you are likely to be making a saving.

You’d buy a pre-payment certificate, which works out at about 31p per day.

The full cost to the NHS of a Salbutamol inhaler is around £5/6. They cost about £2 to produce.

It’s not really surprising how few people know about this. It’s not well publicised and medical professionals/pharmacists/dentists etc never actually tell you about it.

I have a monthly pre-payment but it is more than £9.50. Works well for me with my four regular prescriptions and then any occasional antibiotics or whatever.

If I didn’t take my free insulin for my type 1 diabetes I’d be dead within the week, or at the very least in a coma. Nothing to do with my diet.

When I was paying (I had 4 a month but got 2 months worth on most of them but at the time they chopped and changed a bit) I had it worked out so I got the 3 month one, skipped a month and then got another three month one so it worked out very efficient - I used to put an order in around 10 days before the end of the 3 months to make sure I didn't miss it and maximised what I had. I do think asthmatics and those with epi pens should be covered.

There is a scheme for v low incomes as well I believe so that might be worth looking out

from our google friend

For very low income help with prescriptions in the UK, the main route is the NHS Low Income Scheme (LIS), which provides vouchers (HC2/HC3) for free or reduced-cost prescriptions, dental, sight tests, and travel, assessed on income, housing, and Council Tax. You can check eligibility and apply online via the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website or call their helpline

its one of the reasons why applying for top up benefits can be worthwhile as you can then be entitles to dentistry, opticians and prescriptions FOC or much lower cost

You get free prescriptions over 60, you don't need to be taking your pension, you can still be working and get free prescriptions in England - which seems crazy to me and an easy cost saving for the NHS.

The red inhaler mentioned by @Frequency (the OP) may well be a MART (Maintenance and Reliever Therapy) inhaler, as these tend to be red.

These are supposed to be used at least twice a day, more - sometimes much more - during an asthma flare. They ideally replace both the blue rescue and the brown maintenance (for more serious cases of asthma) inhalers. Maintenance cannot be used intermittently. OP has not written anything to indicate that she is using a combined inhaler incorrectly.

There should be no competition concerning which diseases are most serious. As @TigerRag says, asthma kills several people every day on average.

Sorry if someone else has said this.

I got the 3 month prepay, but got 4 months worth of medication by ordering every 25 days or so. For example Day1, Day 25, Day 50, Day 75 of the certificate.

You just need to time it right to have in place to start on or just before the day you collect your first prescription - and set reminders to order and collect on time. Even every 28 days would mean the last one could squeeze in on Day 84 of a 90 day certificate. The certificate states it is the date you collect the prescription, rather than the day you order.

I also have a lifelong condition that could kill me and is life-limiting, but I don't get free prescriptions for it. The main national charity for the condition campaigns for it to be added to the list, but no luck so far.

My GP surgery will also now only prescribe 30 days at a time under a new policy, when it used to be 56 days (2 x 4 weeks).

I'm able to stockpile as I'm prescribed my maximum daily dose for when it is flaring, but in remission I take much less. I expect the medication bought on the 3 month pre-pay to hopefully last me 6-12 months. You probably won't achieve as big a stockpile, but you could probably save the equivalent of at least a couple of prescription charges a year, and maybe even a little more if able to get the annual pre-pay.

This was my problem, prescriptions are so expensive but I didn't qualify for free ones despite being on a low income.
I bought a pre- payment certificate and paid about £10 a month; it's still a cost but asthma is serious and I couldn't risk being without medication for it. Please don't take that risk; it's really unfair but there's no choice really.

Are you being prescribed an inhaler with only 60 doses in it? You could ask your GP to consider one with 120 puffs if you are using it for MART aswell. Otherwise you do risk running out each month.
Mine changed mine to the 120 when I went on MART. I've not used a blue reliever since I changed.
Also, someone earlier mentioned montelukast. I take these also and they make a lot of difference to my every day asthma control aswell as when I've got a cold.
It's well worth talking to your GP/asthma nurse and letting them know that your asthma isn't as well controlled as you'd like and you are having to renew your inhaler every month.
They should be able to get it under control and that will help a lot and with a larger dose inhaler you could probably only need one every 2 months.
They should get your asthma under control anyway. It's not acceptable to leave someone needing to regularly use a reliever inhaler.