AIBU - Should people 60+ be means tested & pay for prescriptions

[monopoly5]

Considering the NHS is so stretched as are lots of other public services should free prescriptions for the over 60s be means tested?

I agree that the NHS is mismanaged but there is still no money. The tax paying population is shrinking & wealth is increasingly held by the older generations.

Yes there is the argument that people have paid their taxes so are entitled but I don’t believe a 20 year old of today will have any state pension/NHS available to them.

In an ideal world the 1% would be taxed more but can’t see that happening. Don’t we all need to chip in?

There's also a 3 month prepayment card for £29.10, which works out to just a little bit more than the cost of 1 prescription a month.

The prepayment certificates could be better publicised, that's for sure.

You can buy them at the till at some pharmacies, if you fill out a form.

You can also apply online, then when you pick up the prescriptions pick up a refund form for costs above what you would pay per month.

For those of us with chronic illnesses and multiple prescriptions, they're excellent value. I'm not eligible for free scrips, and I make a decent income so it's my duty to pay something. But the PPC saves me a good £40 a month. Which is about a third of what my 78 year old father pays just in prescription copayments (averages $120-$150 a month) in the US.

Means-testing is unpleasant and administratively wasteful. Plus, as someone has said above, over-60s are more likely to have complex health needs requiring multiple prescriptions. And the ones with the most complex health needs are often not in a position that they can deal easily with paperwork.

No.... but parents should be means tested for kids prescriptions!!!???

If you want to guarantee it's the children who will suffer .

Charging people for a stay in hospital would be awful. It is hard to be ill, have to continue paying rent or mortgage, be on sick pay, and be in hospital. Poorest time of my life. I was worse off than I was unemployed, it was a major struggle.
Many older people are in hospital too long because they are waiting for a place in a care home to become available.

@viques perhaps not the full amount of NI but as some NI goes towards the NHS I don’t see why people past state pension age shouldn’t pay something towards that if they’re still employed. Link below is a good explanation of what NI is for (you may already know this, but for anyone else who might be interested)

www.saga.co.uk/magazine/money/retirement/living/what-exactly-is-national-insurance

Finding any care home that will take someone older with complex needs is often very difficult.

We spend 61 billion on obesity related illness every year. If we all took some personal responsibility the NHS wouldn't be in the state it is.

Ok, but why just the obese? What about a woman injured in a car crash because she was driving too fast, or a child hurt riding a quadbike despite his parents knowing it was a dangerous hobby.

You can't apportion blame because a lot of the time people are injured due to their personal choices and sometimes those choices initially even seem to be healthy ones.

JJPP123 I agree with your post whilst I agree that people should take responsibility the NHS should remain free for all. Do you not treat the horse rider? the kid distracted by his headphones waking in front of the car. Also someone who’s obese or a drug user might have a host of other problems such as mental health.

Re: Prepayment Cards Ten pounds a month can still make a difference to someone who is on benefits. It's all well and good you saying oh, you don't have to pay that much, you can pay this much, but the impact on someone on benefits can be significant. A tenner can be four to five meals, a difference to an electric meter, all of those things, the difference between a bill being paid or unpaid and accruing interest.

I am with the person who argued that charging for those who have accidents whilst drunk should be first in the queue to be charged (or by proxy by having higher alcohol taxes, especially for supermarket sales).

A lower prescription charge for those over 60 and a later age for completely no charge might be a better idea than means testing.

The issue with just increasing income tax is that it doesn’t necessarily target wealth.

Yes I saw your volte face, OP, it doesn't surprise or impress me. Your first post was very clear, wasn't it?

I'm concerned with society as a whole, not just children because I have children. I don't want the elderly, disabled or disadvantaged to be put at risk either.

I'll leave you to your "I'm alright Jack" GF stance.

scaryteacher
You could go down the Belgian route where you pay the cost if the drug as opposed to the prescription cost. Lots of people would have a bit of a shock then. We would need a co-pay insurance scheme though.

That would work for me, I pay £8.60 every 4 weeks for about £0.60s worth of Warfarin!

What about a woman injured in a car crash because she was driving too fast, or a child hurt riding a quadbike despite his parents knowing it was a dangerous hobby

Somebody driving too fast in an accident would be arrested. Quad biking costs the NHS virtually nothing. Straw man arguments.

61 billion is a massive chunk of money and completely avoidable.

Ok, but why just the obese? What about a woman injured in a car crash because she was driving too fast, or a child hurt riding a quadbike despite his parents knowing it was a dangerous hobby.

People make these comparisons all the time. I'm sure if car accidents were strangling the NHS, there'd be a movement to somehow hold bad drivers to account, which would be really easy - add a car insurance surcharge (great idea). As they're not, there's not. Ditto dangerous/extreme sports.

Mind you, go to the continent and you'll be forced to pay for insurance before you ski or pay for a helicopter to rescue you before they'll take you back down.

I didn’t do a 180 it was simply because I was thinking about the elderly population. Why on earth would you think I would be trying to impress you??? Go back inside your wardrobe.

Gilead I totally agree people on benefits (and all the other categories currently covered) should not have to pay for prescriptions, even for a PPC. I know £10, or £8.20, can make the difference between getting by and not getting by for all too many people. I'm just pointing out they're easily available to those who aren't eligible, and can help save a fair amount of money.

Sometimes I worry about those who would like to reinstitute a nice little Victorian Poor Law board, so some holier-than-thou types could sit in judgement of the deserving and undeserving poor. Somehow they're always able to explain away their own lapses in virtue, though.

Veryveryquietly I do wish there were a thumbs up symbol on here now and then. Have this instead!

aw, thanks Gilead a for you too!

I vote for less zero-sum-thinking scrabbling about worrying that someone else is somehow taking advantage.

Means testing would just dissuade many people genuinely without means for using the health system the way we all should. And as for those very, very few people who may be taking advantage of the system, well, they'll likely find another way around it. Better to just get on as we are.

I'll post where I like, thanks OP. You were exclusionary and you've been told - not just by me. This isn't your chatboard.

you've been told - not just by me

Really have I? If you say so...

Looking over the thread I have seen mixed opinions & viewpoints.

Lying I don’t see why it’s ok to start calling everyone a goady fucker because their topic is controversial. FWIW, I disagree with the OP as do others.

Gilead sorry but I don’t understand your point. Many, many benefits mean you are except from the charges anyway, as it should be.

I don't EilaLila. This is my first one today.

It's not that the topic is controversial, some of the good ones are. This isn't one of those but it was that the first post was extremely clear about the direction of the topic - elderly-bashing - and it was goady, in my opinion. I've said my piece.

My post specifically said SHOULD. I believe we need to have a lot of uncomfortable discussions with regards to the NHS if we want to keep it.

I’m not trying to elderly bash or goad. This post was specifically about prescriptions & older people because we have an elderly population living longer.

How would you means test it? Earnings alone or savings or income from other sources taken into account?