To not understand why some life saving medications are free and others aren't

[BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot]

Why on earth are inhalers and asthma medications not yet free on prescription but type 2 diabetics (lifestyle induced) get all of their medications for free?

This has been slowly getting to me as the years have gone on and I have a teen with asthma who, no matter how well controlled it is in the year, always ends up on steroids multiple times in the winter. I know they don't have to pay now but this is likely to be an issue as an adult for them and they will then have to pay, why? Why can type 2 diabetics not just get their diabetes medications free but ALL their medications but asthmatics can't even get essential life saving medications free?

AIBU to feel the rage on this?

£100 a year paid in installments for unlimited medication is amazing.
Yanbu to wonder about the way it works. Yabu to go on about ‘lifestyle induced’ Or being annoyed that you have to pay at all.

Anyone who needs more than one prescription a month should get a pre-payment card. You pay by direct debit for about a tenner a month.

Slutty

My dad had a cancer treatment that cost £20,000

Some diseases are more expensive than others. I don’t resent anyone in your circumstances

*BuggerOff

Students are actually assessed on their personal income, I believe (the NHS website appears to indicate this too) - they just have to fill in an HC1 form. Free dental treatment and opticians appointments too.*

She lives at home outside of term time so it is household income that is used. She only qualifies for the very lowest amount of loan (ie not enough to cover even half her rent) but that’s a different thread.

Because as another poster said these medicines did not exist when the list was made 50 years ago. Also the criteria was that you would only get for free something that your body would make naturally if you were not ill (e.g Thyroid hormone, Insulin ).
It won't be updated because money.

It wasn't always something that your body made naturally. It was conditions that had a "long-term life-saving treatment available".

The only change to that was the addition of cancer patients in 2009.

BuggerOff - are you sure it’s her out-of-term address she should she using though? I always used my term time address, and I don’t think I was wrong to do that, but all my bank statements and things went there so I didn’t feel like it was giving the wrong address, especially as I was there 24 weeks per year for term, plus usually another 4-6 outside term, so over half the year. There is a helpline telephone that may be able to give you a more accurate answer though.

Pre-payment cards are extensively advertised imo. Anyone who visits hospital or the gp and even pharmacists surely couldn’t fail to miss the posters and various leaflets and literature, even if an actual person doesn’t mention it

It's just not true that asthma is a condition someone always gets completely against their will and has no control over, btw, if we're talking about the comparison between asthma and diabetes. Yes, for some people that's the case, but not all.

My asthma functions much like diabetes in terms of personal impact on it. I got it as a teenager after several years smoking drugs, it was one particularly strong batch that triggered my first attack. When I've been a smoker over the 15 years since, my asthma has been horrendous and I've had to use my inhaler multiple times per day, even after every cigarette, upon waking and before bed, as my lungs were being so damaged. I've only ever had a handful of proper attacks needing hospital treatment.

But at times of quitting my asthma gets quickly much better, I've quit a few months ago (for good this time) and within a few short weeks it improved to an extent I only use my inhaler every week or so if that. I know from experience that the more months pass, the better it gets, and once I add exercise into the mix and get past the initial few weeks of needing inhaler to exercise my lungs basically return to a non asthmatic state that doesn't return without taking up smoking again.

As a scot who doesn't have to pay.... why can't we pay the actual cost of the medicine?

It's got to be cost/benefit. I don't really understand why thyroid medication is free either but I trust the system enough that there was good reason.

Not all thyroid medication is free, if you are hyperthyroid then you pay for carbimizole on prescription. Whereas if you are hypothyroid you can apply to have free prescriptions

Realise my post made it sound I've smoked solidly for fifteen years since developing asthma... I haven't! It's been off and on.

Agree with PP, we have the option to pay £100 for one year of unlimited prescriptions, which can be broken down into monthly instalments for those who can't save the £100 to outlay.

Thyroxine in 100g & 50g is pennies but 13.5 grams is £175 for 56 day supply

My mum is always amazed that her thyroxine isn't chargeable but my dad has to pay for his warfarin. His condition, in comparison to my mums (who as an individual case only found out about her under active thyroid when she couldn't lose weight and had zero other symptoms) is definitely more life critical.

Roughly 40% of Cystic fibrosis patients will develop a form of diabetes by the time they hit adulthood, so they may get their prescriptions paid for (sad but true).

However, it is clear that the NHS is struggling, yet unlike other countries there aren't clear provisions for funding of medications that aren't covered by the NHS.

A poster above mentioned self funding diabetes monitoring for £100 a month. I have also enquired about medical equipment and medication (one of which was £16,000 a month). There is a disparity between the way this country and others without public funding systems cope. There isn't a possibility of funding through insurance, which causes a gap in the system.

Also, in countries where posters have mentioned that GP appointments and prescriptions are paid for (Republic of Ireland being one that comes to mind for example), there could be a system like that, however, I am aware that chronically ill patients in those countries are assisted for their prescriptions, same for hospital visits, so it isn't true that chronically ill patients aren't supported in some way.

I think its fair that the prescription funding is reviewed. The NHS has made big strides since 1968, and the NHS is a different beast nowadays. The funding needs to be reviewed to reflect this. Either everyone pays or they review need. Maybe only those who have chronic conditions (with a reviewed list) and who are unable to work - due to illness should be eligible for free prescriptions. It isn't right or fair that certain medical conditions are funded but others are ignored.

Move to Wales. It's all free.

There was a review about prescription charges in England, but the governement(s) didn't implement the recommendations.

A review of prescription charges in England was commissioned in response to the 2006 Health Select Committee report on NHS charges.23 The Government made a commitment to reviewing the system and carrying out a consultation on the options for change on a cost neutral basis. The Prescription Charges Review report was published in May 2010.23 Rather than adding new categories of chronic conditions, the report recommended the introduction of a broad definition of a long-term health condition based on duration (at least 6 months) and the need for some form of continuing management. The report also recommended that a patient's eligibility against this new criteria should be determined by their GP (supported by an appropriate member of staff who has some clinical responsibility for patients with long-term conditions) and that the period of exemption (whether initial or a renewal) should be reduced to 3 years. The recommendations of this report have not been implemented.

The sense of entitlement of some people is astounding. For £100 you can get unlimited medications for a whole year. Anything you get prescribed in hospital is already free. I really wish some of you would just consider how amazing it is that everyone in the country has access to such cheap medicines.

This. As always on these threads, the language shows people don't understand what good value the NHS is. We don't pay the cost of the medication. We pay the cost of the prescription,which in most cases is substantially less than the cost of the medication. A quick Google tells me one of my inhalers costs £45. The prescription charge is a bargain!

The longer the prescription course, the more chance of waste. Enough drugs are wasted as it is.

The problem is saying one month only to everyone. DH had been on the same dose for Addison's for over a decade, used to get three months at a time (reasonable) now can only get one months suuply - which is a pain in the arse given that sometimes he has to take a double dose and then his repeat prescription request is refused as he's ordered it too early and he has to sort that out.

He's never going to not take his medication, there's no risk of stockpiling it, or it going to waste. He would die without it.

And at the same time that they won't give him more than a month's supply of essential medication, we had to take DS to A&E for a bad cut, they clean it up, give us antibiotics send us home with an appointment for the next day for stitches under general anaesthetic. The next day they send us home with a second bottle of identical antibiotics. The nurse who have it to us pointed out that it was identical and said we could use which ever one we wanted. Talk about a waste of money!

There's no way, especially in the current cost cutting climate, they are going to review it and add more people getting their drugs free to the list.

No, you are right there. I think the prepayment card for everyone seems fairer. It is just such an oddity than some people do and others don't though.

@BrazzleDazzleDay

As a scot who doesn't have to pay.... why can't we pay the actual cost of the medicine?

Because my DH would have to pay around £200 a month to stay alive?

I get 56 days
How come your dh gets just 28 days? mirme

No idea.
I was hyperthyroid for a few years. I had loads of meds, and bought prepaid prescriptions.
When my thyroid was removed, and I was switched to Levo, all prescriptions are free forever.
TBH, my condition was more dangerous when hypo.
However, they will only prescribe half of the meds I need on NHS. The rest, I legally import and pay for.
I get the ones that keep me alive for free. The ones that give me quality of life are NHS exempt.
My GP fully supports my meds schedule. All seems a bit ridiculous though.

Hyperthyroidism is more dangerous - short term, than hypothyroidism throwawayagain

"BrazzleDazzleDay
As a scot who doesn't have to pay.... why can't we pay the actual cost of the medicine?"

You really wouldn't want to do that. The prescription charge is just a contribution to the NHS. Yes, some drugs are far cheaper than £8.90. Some drugs are far more expensive.

Have trouble sleeping? Melatonin is £15.39 per pack (per month).
Quetiapine 200 mg morning and night: £100 per month.

That's just two examples of why it's much better to stay with the £8.90 charge and £10.40/month prepayment certificate.