To think blanket free prescriptions for over 60s NEED to end?

[Idratherbepaddleboarding]

I know this will be controversial but I popped to the doctors in my lunch break to collect my prescription and joined a longish queue. Everyone in front of me was over 60 and collecting huge bags of medications and I was the only one paying for any of it.

I don’t dispute that I should have to pay but often I can’t afford it which has led to me having to miss days of my medication, leaving me feeling very emotional and at times suicidal (medication is for depression). Perhaps if everyone who has over a certain income had to pay, they’d be able to lower the prescription charge for everyone or be able to afford the pay rises they say they can’t afford for nurses and junior doctors.

The killer was that every single one of the people in front of me got back into massive, brand new SUVs, one couple into a Range Rover and another into a Jaguar. If they can afford to own (and run!) cars like that, paying for a prescription would be a drop in the ocean for them. AIBU to think that free prescriptions should be limited to those in pension credit just like Universal Credit?

When DH’s grandad died, his mum and auntie shared out his collection of prescription paracetamol and ibuprofen (I know they should be returned to the pharmacy but they’d only have been destroyed and both are ex nurses so I guess they know what they’re doing). I’m not joking, there were boxes and boxes of the stuff, we didn’t buy painkillers for years and these will have cost the NHS a lot more than they would from the supermarket and weren’t even taken by the person that they were intended for! Surely paracetamol and ibuprofen should not be available on the NHS at all?

I really don’t want to bash the over 60s and it wouldn’t be a vote winner for politicians but surely we can’t afford to keep free prescriptions for those that can afford them?

The problem is the Tories. England / UK need shot of them. The devolved governments do far better for their people. Why do the English people get ripped off them then vote them in again? Bizzarest thing ever!

And that's another costly travesty. Our neighbours have a BMW and a Merc for their own cars, and use their DLA money for a "fun" motability car, which is currently a bright yellow Mini. They openly admit they don't need the car and don't need the money, but they get a "fun" car "because they can"

🤐

How about we do both?

Please raise your hand if you have a nice car and receive child benefit... 🤔

Well said @Beveren
most people will be the same as you having paid into a system they’ve hardly used.
NI payments are akin to paying into a pension.
Pay now, benefit later.

That's worked out well - one health board in special measures for almost eight years leaving thousands of people without access to adequate basic medical care. A country that's on it's knees with a ticking public health timebomb.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen needs to be prescribed due to buying limits I take 240 tablets a month and can only buy 32 at a time.

Yanbu

I’m in Scotland so it’s free, but at the pharmacy the other day, a lady getting a packet of paracetamol on prescription in minor ailments, was a bit of a disgrace really.

FFS no it shouldn’t be free for everybody! Especially as free means paid for by taxes, so it will in reality only be free for some but as the perception is that it is free people will be wasteful (like it is happening with NHS missed appointements!)
OP, I fully agree, age on its own shouldn’t be a reason to receive free things - medications, bus pass, winter heating…

Who’s the one making assumptions? It’s a pharmacy in a small village doctors surgery with a big car park. We don’t have a high street. Plenty of room to see everyone. And yes, they did serve everyone that quickly, they’re a very good pharmacy except for the person in the front of the queue where they’d manage to lose some of his medication so took a while to deal with that. Everyone else gave their name, got their medication from the box under the counter and went on their way. It took minutes to serve us all (except the poor guy at the front) especially since I was the only one who had to pay.

It's cuckoo! 😊

Maybe you need to take on board that while your grandpa is well off this simply does not apply to everyone in his age group. Life and all that it throws at us can have very different financial outcomes for people. I have worked since I was 15 (because you could in those days!) but other than my little house and some small savings I have very little. How do you suggest I would pay for treatment should I be unlucky enough to fall ill. I am not well off because I was a single parent and had an ex that paid no child support, it was a real struggle to provide everything for my child, to pay a mortgage and all the other bills. I am retired now and watching my small NHS pension and my state pension being eroded due to the ever increasing cost of living. If we go down the American route which I fear is a real prospect we will see people going bankrupt to pay for treatment, people deferring or avoiding treatment because they fear the bills and while you may think this is acceptable, personally I don't

And I dare say many of those over 60's are still paying their NI, I know I am.

I work on the principle that old people have likely contributed enough via taxation through their lifetime for me to not get het up over free prescriptions.

@maddy68 What makes you think they have paid into the system their whole life ??

Cause you have a rich grandad, everyone else should pay. Makes a lot of sense, especially in reply to the OP saying she can't even afford her medicines

I'm retired and pay income tax on my NHS pension and also pay full council tax and of course VAT, so I feel that I am still contributing. I get by but I do not have a comfortable lifestyle. It is all so variable and it worries me that people assume all pensioners are wealthy , just as some pensioners assume all young people are lazy and entitled. See people as individuals

I agree.

I'm not convinced it would make a huge difference anyway, Most people getting medication regularly would buy a prepayment certificate anyway, so it would only bring in around £110 per head, per year.

My prescriptions have been free since I was 42, when hypothyroidism was diagnosed. Before that, I bought prepayment certificates, because I was on regular medication for other things.

OP, you mention over 60s, but what do you think about giving free (at point of delivery) prescriptions to pregnant women, who are usually working and women postpartum? What about children and young people in high income homes? What about free contraception?

Everyone should have to pay something for a prescription to make them value it. Most pensioners should have to pay, why on earth do wealthy pensioners get handouts?

I'm in my 60s and I agree with you. I've never been so well off as I am now. And yet years ago when I was struggling I had to pay for medications which was a real struggle sometimes.

It should be means tested. People should have to apply for an exemption and declare their yearly income.

In ROI we don't even get free prescriptions on maternity. I have gestational diabetes and had to buy my diabetes gear - normally 160 euro - but I was able to get it for 80 with the drugs certificate scheme. 80 euro for 3 months of a drugs cert. Pretty expensive! And I had no choice but to buy it. I had my first baby in the UK and even got painkillers free. Quite the contrast. Not surprising that giving up free health care at the point of delivery and generous prescriptions is a key reason that many people in NI don't want a United Ireland. I guess no one wants to put their hand in their pocket 😆

you have to have paid NI for a total of 35 years before you are eligible for the full state pension

They only ever did this if it was a special prescription only formula prescribed by consultants. You can't buy this.