I shouldn't be getting free prescriptions

[ssd]

because I live in Scotland

I work, so does dh

we have a combined income of £25k

we don't need a regular prescription every week

where I pick up my prescriptions, people I know who are lawyers, accountants, business owners all pick them up free, its across the board and not means tested

its all wrong, when people in England pay over £8 for theirs

it should be means tested, that and the winter fuel allowance , probably loads more I cant think of just now

I do realise that this was apparently not possible, but I just think giving one whole country for free, when others are crippled by increasing costs is incredibly unfair.

If it helps, the reverse situation is childcare. Here in Wales we get 10 hours a week free for 3 year olds compared with 15 hours in England, and the 30 hours policy doesn't apply here, so there will be even more of a discrepancy.

The reason the Scottish get more as they get more spent on them per head because of the Barnett formula.

This isn't how Barnett works. Scotland and Wales would get bigger black grants if it were based on need. Eg: in Wales £1.20 needs to be spent for each £1 in England on healthcare due to rurality.

So the English tax payer gets to fund this despite never having voted for it. It is a disgrace.

I'd suggest you do a bit more reading around the subject. ;)

It's no wonder people get bogged down with the word free as we are constantly told what the Government pay for - the Government pay for nothing they just decide how to distribute what everybody pays in all the different taxes that's all the money they have. In the North of England we are equally as poor as Scotland (possibly worse per capita) but wher I live our so called grant from the Government per capita is deducted from to make up for an area down South which is not very heavily populated so doesn't receive anything like as much in Council Tax but the people a re far richer than here. All these old ways of working out figures need bringing up,to date so there can be some equality in the system.

Its not free. We all pay tax and NI.
Gas and electricity were taxed after the Poll Tax took a nose dive. They had to claw the money back from us somehow.

And no, SmellySourdough poor people cannot afford to pay £8 per item then claim it back. They dont have the £8 to start with.

These days its all about austerity measures and hating people. I have no idea why its as if there are thousands of jobs available but people are just too lazy to take them, or something. [rolls eyes].

I think primary school children (infants I think) in England get free school meals. My SIL lives in England and I'm sure her DC get free lunches. I live in Wales and my DC have never had free lunches. I would like to swap our free prescriptions for free lunches, as I rarely need a prescription but I pay around £80 per month for school dinners.

Yep, although the free lunches for children up to 7 are being stopped in England soon.

Even in England it is a postcode lottery and children where I live do not get free lunches unless their parents are on income support. People on IS are far better off than people who get quite a bit more without it and have to manage. The same goes for pensioners if you never earn enough or have spent all your money and you only get basic pension you get a lot more than those who have saved all their lives and have to use those savings for anything over the basic pension ie glasses, dentists and lots more.

Shouldn't be any postcode lottery over it. Every infant child ina state-funded school in England should get a free meal every lunchtime.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/408015/Archived-Universal_infant_free_school_meals_departmental_advice_30092014.pdf

Well quite simply they don't.

Disappointed that's an old document and has been superseded with new rules - the document tells you that...

harrasseddotcom and my point STILL stands why pick on pensioners when people with children get free prescriptions for them, why is a 'rich' pensioner who may have contributed for 30 odd years and still paying tax more undeserving then a 'rich' family who gets free prescriptions for 1,2,3 children.

And BarbaraofSeville what on earth has the price of houses got to do with anything again just another ignorant rant about pensioners, and if think that there will be articles about freezing starving pensioners what about the pictures of freezing starving children affected by means testing whilst conveniently forgetting that not all families with children are poor and in need, just like pensioners in fact.

I bet anything that parents who would be affected by means testing will be up in arms making their views known come voting time.

I wish all the young people would realise that the older ones may have found getting a job much easier they worked damned hard for their money - longer hours and much lower pay but they saved. They didn't have all the things you had and they put money into a pension fund which various Governments spent on whatever they saw fit instead of investing it in sure ways to,give a decent result at the end. You are paying for our pensions now because ours was carelessly wasted and we never had such low interest rates in fact at time it was 18%, imagine how that would affect yours now and although our houses were a lot cheaper we got a lot less wages or salary. We had to do as we were told and like it or be out of a job,,there has been no easy ride.

The fact is though that medicines for elderly patients are far more expensive than those for children. The average child might only get one or two scripts a year.
The elderly generally get something every month, with increasingly complex and expensive illnesses.

I wish all the young people would realise that the older ones may have found getting a job much easier they worked damned hard for their money - longer hours and much lower pay but they saved.

What were the average working hours? For the older people I know its always been about 40hrs a week. And plenty of people now have to work longer hours. Are you sure you're comparing similar groups of people over time?

As for saving - I save, even when on minimum wage, but when the money is stretched too far for many people it is literally impssible for them to do so. Also, I've heard this line trotted out by older people who are annoyed at their children's and grandchildren's inability to save - and yet they didn't teach them the value of saving, and in fact indulged them! (I'm not saying you're in this catergory, by the way.)

They didn't have all the things you had...

And now we don't have things you had - stuff that really matters like communities, full employment etc. Gadgets don't really make up for that, they just mean we do things differently. If you're talking about things like central heating or cars, again you are not comparing similar groups because a lot of people can't afford to switch heating on, or afford to run a car, etc.

FWIW, i've spent time living in basic conditions but with more community spirit and I'd opt for the latter, given a choice.

We had to do as we were told and like it or be out of a job,,there has been no easy ride.

Unlike us, who can just swan around doing what we want? Everyone has to do as they are told at work! What's more, with high unemployment like now, it's even easier for employers to get rid of you and replace you... At least if you were fired you could find another job quickly (even in the early 00's I remember it being easier to find work.)

Sorry, but I've heard a lot of this stuff said by older people who aren't compring like for like. In particular, older people who are now 'middle class', at least in income, talking about the luxuries they enjoy, and assuming everyone else can afford them. You know, luxuries like being able to put a roof over your head...

I appreciate how hard things are now but you are not even trying to appreciate what we dint have. Buying so many things instead of putting money into community activities is now a choice and how many young people would give up their phones or tablets just to,start visiting your friends and family and actually having to make time for the visit and the conversation. When I was younger I was a brownie leader and a youth club leader as well as helping many charities that was my way of life before what I wanted to do for myself. Who would choose to do that now in my 20s I was obliged to help lay a dead body out which was certainly not a pleasant experience but somebody not strong enough on their own had made a promise which must be kept. There is a lot of hard work involved in keeping a family and community together and I was in the thick of it as my mother was the local Queens nurse who everybody thought they owned. If I had been a selfish child it would have lead to trouble. When I have dealings with any firm now I can only use say that the service far inferior to the days when I worked and it was always the case that the customer was always right no matter how rude they may be. If people have reached what you are calling middle class they have worked all their lives to get there without any of the technology you have and a much harder life but I would agree with you I would much rather have the old communities than the modern technology. Don't knock what you can never be understand and try making the best of e hat you have instead of always seeing greener grass it's often very dead underneath.

I must say that I find it a bit irritating being given a lesson on how hard things are for today's pensioners (and I am not in the first flush of youth myself).

My mother (a teacher) retired at 60, my FIL (a working class man who worked his way up to become an IT manager) retired at 65, and both have now enjoyed 20 years of retirement on adequate incomes living in their own properties. OK they are not rich (my mum is from the generation of teachers who suffered from pay erosion in the 70s and 80s, while my FIL got shafted by successive pension reforms) - but I think their situation compares rather favourably to that of young people today!

Your parents sound very lucky. We lost most of our private pension in the last big crash as they were just about to mature and we both have had very poor health although our drugs are no more expensive than a child's but it will be when my kidneys eventually fail. If you put more energy into working hard - try running your own business if you are trained - than you put into complaining you should do well. My son who is 45 has done very well by first training for a trade in the RN and then taking every chance he got including taking a part time degree which he had to pay for and do in his spare time but he still got a first class with honours. Whether it is at education or work you have to put a lot of effort in to get anywhere. Your mother did nit be one a teacher by luck and your father obviously worked hard to move up. Bury f ollowing their example instead of being irritated by things you can't change.

David Cameron, is that you?

I'm not picking on pensioners. Far from it. I think everyone should get free prescriptions the young and old alike. But the people suggesting means testing well it's only fair if you means test everyone with an income. If the theory is that if you can afford prescriptions you should pay then age shouldn't come into it. But means testing oaps will never happen.

"[...] being irritated by things you can't change" AKA "know your place"? You've been left behind with this thinking. Thank god.