To think the NHS medical exemption is not very fair?

[user87382294757]

DH has crohns disease. Needs regular prescriptions and bloods, has an IBD nurse etc.

Advised some conditions can exempt you from prescription charges and checked the list. It says-

You can get all your NHS prescriptions free if you have a valid medical exemption certificate because you have:
• a permanent fistula (for example, caecostomy, colostomy, laryngos-tomy or ileostomy) which needs
continuous surgical dressing or an appliance;
• a form of hypoadrenalism (for example, Addison’s Disease) for which specific substitution therapy is
essential;
• diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism;
• diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone;
• hypoparathyroidism;
• myasthenia gravis;
• myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism which needs thyroid hormone replacement);
• epilepsy which needs continuous anticonvulsive therapy;
• a continuing physical disability which means you cannot go out without the help of another person; or
• cancer and are undergoing treatment for:
– cancer;
– the effects of cancer; or,
– the effects of cancer treatment.

Why these conditions and not others? It seems unfair that someone with diabetes type 2 (which is often self induced through diet and lack of exercise) can get these for free and others with other chronic illnesses cannot?

I'm cross that it seems a selective few illness have been given more priority than others for this. AIBU?

When you are on benefits prescriptions are free anyway. Lets not muddle these issues

I would have thought your husband was eligible for a medical exemption certificate as he relies on medication.

Does chronic heart disease, requiring frequent and regular meds, not qualify either?

I have asthma and went a few years without my medicine because I couldn't afford it, when I was in my early twenties. I got a right bollocking for that by the hospital when I ended up in there repeatedly. I'm sure I'm not the only one who ended up in hospital for the same reason, so why they haven't put it on the list I don't know. Doctors like to remind me its a killer, but when the treatment is chargeable and people mostly go on about asthma being overdiagnosed and so on (in the sense of do people really have asthma in the first place etc) it's easy to think it doesn't matter if you don't take the steroids.

I'm also stuck on so.e other medication for life, which I've tried to come off of several times. It's like paxil/paroxetine, in that if you've taken it long-term, it's almost impossible to wean the body off it. The side effects are extreme and withdrawal causes an entirely new syndrome. But I'm still expected to pay for the privilege of being stuck on it.

I'm in the

I also think it's problematic trying to introduce a rule where you only have to pay for the medication to treat the disease. I have 3 inhalers, an antihistamine and a leukotrine inhibitor prescribed monthly. On a bad month I'll also have steroids added into that. But having asthma makes me predisposed to chest infections, so while antibiotics and carbocysteine aren't specifically treating my asthma, they're treating a condition which I have because I have asthma.

When you are on benefits prescriptions are free anyway

No they are not

I've got T2 diabetes - like every single person over 40 in my Dads side of the family. None of us asked for it or want it - I have to take daily medication, have 6 monthly reviews, and have had to make major life style changes even though I am fairly fit and healthy.

I don't sit on my sofa drinking coke and eating cake and resent that implication Plus untreated, diabetes can lead to long term complications including limb amputation and blindness. The money saved long term to avoid this isn't insignificant.

I've got a medical exemption certificate and I agree it's unfair. I take 9 different meds a day so I'm very grateful for it, but my condition won't kill me.

DS2 is a severe asthmatic and takes 4 different medications a day. He could potentially die if he didn't get them but has pay, even when he was a student. He has a pre-payment certificate otherwise it would be very expensive.

I can't see it changing, unfortunately.

Then because I am not taking the medication, I will probably go downhill again and have to be referred again, costing the NHS more money. I am sure this is not just the case with mental health problems.

I think you are being overly optimistic there will be somewhere for you to be referred to in future. Not quite sure what in the past 5 years makes anyone think there will be more money spent on the NHS. There's going to be less - a lot less.

@PeoniesarePink - exactly. I am fit and healthy but because I have hypothryoid and antibodies I am also likely to get type 2 diabetes. It is primarily an autoimmune disease. The ‘lifestyle component’ only really kicks in at BMI 35-40 and even then can often be reversed through diet changes.

Asthma also kills in fact there are documented cases of people dying in this country because they were rationing their medication because they coudn't afford medication. However it is not a competition between illnesses. OP is not being unreasonable to point out that the current system is unfair. Both Asthma uk and Crohns and colitis UK have highlighted this issue and have petitions demanding government address this.

YANBU, in the sense that there doesn't appear to be a reason why some chronic conditions are exempted and others not. Personally, I'd like to see a return to free prescriptions as a universal benefit.

However, YABU to get so exercised about this It's only £10 a month. There are people being diagnosed today in the US who will have to choose between treatment of a serious condition and bankruptcy. Also, the NHS is on its knees with chronic underfunding - we all need to be paying more in the way of tax to help it.

I think you are being overly optimistic there will be somewhere for you to be referred to in future. Not quite sure what in the past 5 years makes anyone think there will be more money spent on the NHS. There's going to be less - a lot less.

Well this is true, I also didn't mention that I probably wouldn't be referred as I wouldn't be taking medication, but I thought try and put a positive spin on what is a really shit time in this country

Does seem unfair. But ultimately the NHS is massively over stretched and we can’t keep taking and taking and expecting things not to get worse.

I don't disagree with the sentiment, but the dig about type 2 diabetes was unfair. Not all type 2's put themselves there.

I'm in Scotland where we don't pay for any.

Actually, a lot of people on benefits/low income can get free prescriptions.

Great info page here:
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/free-nhs-prescriptions

I'm just grateful for the pre pay. In America, the injections I'm on are thousands of dollars. My consultant here said one is around £90 or so, and I pay £9/10 a month and get a weekly injection plus prescription painkillers x 2 plus citalopram

I agree with you and I am another that is medically exempt because I have Addison’s disease and hypothyroidism. I also have asthma.

YANBU, in the sense that there doesn't appear to be a reason why some chronic conditions are exempted and others not

I think historically the exemptions applied to conditions that were treated with replacement hormones, i.e. insulin for diabetes, thyroxine for hypothyroidism etc rather than other types of medication.

Whilst only exempting medications relating to the exempted disease sounds sensible I suspect that determining what is a linked condition would be difficult/costly

When you are on benefits prescriptions are free anyway.

That's only true of certain means tested benefits. So someone in receipt of PIP who is either £1 above the means testing threshold, or who isn't eligible for any other qualifying benefits, has to pay prescription charges - which is ironic, considering PIP is awarded to people with serious, long-term medical conditions.

The "people pay more than £2 a week on a coffee" argument really highlights financial privilege in action. For many people, the choice is not a Costa coffee v a pre-payment card. It's bus fare to work v a pre-payment card, or enough Asda value range food for the family v a pre-payment card, or heating the house for an hour in winter v a pre-payment card. People who can't afford a pre-payment card - and they do exist - aren't going without their skinny cappuccino. They're going without their essential medication.

Only a very small proportion of the population pay prescription charges at all - 90% are filled free of charge. It would make sense to me to just axe them altogether.

Only a very small proportion of the population pay prescription charges at all - 90% are filled free of charge.

Source?

I have an adult cousin with CF. I think it's on the list but I don't see it?

Source?

I don't think it's in the spirit of discussions of the NHS and benefits to ask for facts. They only get in the way.

It's true, 90.6% to be precise. Of the remaining 9.4% cash payments make up 5.2% and 4.2% are pre-payment certificates.