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?

😁😁

Well OP if you are happy for A&E queues to get even longer due to over 60s who cant afford to pay for the scripts ending up there then yeah they need to end. So enjoy your even longer wait and oh dont forget to bring a book for when your phone battery dies.

I think my 66 year old friend who incidentally lives in social housing more than deserves his free scripts after spending four months COMPLETELY on his own for the sake of the NHS back in 2020. He has diabetes and is waiting for a knee replacement.

@LakieLady same here I have hypothyroidism. That's the only medication I have at the moment.

You are well off so fuck everyone else? Nice attitude.
I had more money when my kids were at primary school than I do now so I think all families with primary school aged children should pay for prescriptions.

So you think that the aimof the government should be to just reduce the wealth of the citizens and make people poorer over time? If it suits you to make up ideas about other people's viewpoints, then fine. It would be rather nice if you could address the argument that it doesn't make sense to means test if you set the level so high that the money returned from people above the bar isn't even sufficient to pay for the means testing.

But they manage to means test it for the poor...

@Titusgroan

NI payments are akin to paying into a pension.

No they're not. With a pension, what you get out (the pension) is proportional to the amount you've paid in, subject to investment performance, etc.

With NI, it's "credits" you need to get state pension and you can get "credits" without paying any NI at all, i.e. if unemployed, parental years, part time worker earning between the lower NIC thresholds, etc. So there is no financial link between what you pay in and what you get out.

OP was has amazing powers. And lives in a very wealthy area from the sounds of it so has zero understanding of the issues.

THERE IS A PRE PAYMENT CERTIFICATE AT JUST OVER £100 PER YEAR!!

I wish people would stop scare mongering about paying 100's per month for their prescriptions.

@taxguru There is a financial link. Older mothers who stayed at home did not get a state pension credits unless they paid for it. That changed more recently.

A lot of older pensioners have just a little more than Pension Credit. If they got the New state pension, and added it to their small private or occupational pension, they would feel that saving for the extra had been worthwhile. They could probably then afford to pay for prescriptions.

Take it from an older person with a small extra pension, with a DH on a basic state pension. So many like us, saved what we could, only to find we’re just a few ££ better off than we would be on Pension Credit, so miss out on all the extra benefits like Cold Weather payments, free TV licence etc. DH paid on the prepayment scheme for years even when he was ill, or rather I paid then as his statutory sick pay was a pittance.

This^

We have relatives who are extremely well off OP they are the Jaguar drivers you mention and yet use the NHS pretty much weekly, claim pip which they don’t need and give to their nephew and he doesn’t need it either and no he doesn’t care for them, or even live in the same town.

I think pip should be means tested if you’ve hundreds of thousands in the bank, why do you need to claim pip and if you do need it, then use it. Don’t give it away every 4 weeks.

No, you need 35 years of "credits" which many people accumulate without actually paying much, if any, NIC!

I don't have a nice car or get child benefit. Where's my pity party please?

The idea that all over 60s are poor is wrong.

That is why it should be means tested.

We seriously need to look at medicalisation and how much that is prescribed, should be! We could also talk about what should be funded on the NHS and what not. I really do not like generalisations of any kind and prescriptions should be free to all, but only if really needed and not for items you can purchase for much less over the counter. Question, What if the items were not for those collecting them, but for those they care for? Not a fan or 'we should not ....' as dangerous to assume everyone is in the same boat.

I get free prescriptions anyway due to a medical condition - I had a spate of needing prescriptions for other things a couple of years ago, but they were almost certainly either caused by, or made worse by, the underlying condition.

On an age basis, it would make sense to tie in the benefit with the state pension age - free buses (outside of London) and NI contributions move in line with that, seems illogical that prescriptions don't.

As has ben said get a prescription certificate - I believe if you get one prescription per month it is financially better to do this - you can also pay monthly

It's only a few pence difference and OP said she can't always afford her prescription so all this would do is force her to pay monthly when she can't always.

This feels like a race to the bottom and ageist otherwise you would have mentioned other groups (which others have mentioned, such as parents paying for their children’s medication).

Whilst there are some over 60s who are well off there is a cohort whose income is slightly above the cut off point for any benefits and they are probably worse off than those on pension credit. Even paying for prepayment cert can still be prohibitive for someone on a tiny pension. It is more likely to be women who end up in a worse position than men.

The new state pension is currently £10,600 a year for a single person, the majority of current pensioners with no private or occupational pension receive less than that. Pension credit tops up a pension to £10,454 a year for a single person and the pension credit is a gateway benefit to other help which those on a slightly higher pension do not get., but have to pay for everything. There are a lot of pensioners who are hardly rolling in it and have to live extremely modestly.

Anyone with a long term condition should be having annual meds reviews and most will only be prescribed a months worth of medication at a time, so the majority of people should not have great stockpiles of medication. There is always going to be cases where a patient has not got on with a particular med after a few days and unless they take those back to the pharmacy (assuming them are able to get to a pharmacy and not all older people can), they are likely to build up some unused meds. The same could apply to anyone with a long term condition regardless of age. Broadly speaking if a med is available over the counter, a GP will generally not prescribe it.

Someone up thread also mentioned that a lot of medication for older people is preventative medicine. Prevention being far cheaper than the patient ending up in the hospital system.

Given that prescriptions are free in Wales and Scotland, do you not think that England should be following a similar path?

When my husband was dying he was on 6 hourly paracetamol suspension, it was prescribed for him a) because he needed more than I could buy to keep him comfortable and b) because I couldn't leave the house every day to buy him paracetamol. He also had 'bags' of medication that were collected from the pharmacy, we didn't pay because he had cancer, we also drive a big car, or rather I do now. In the days before he was terminal he still qualified for free scripts because of his cancer, he would willingly not have needed those free medications.

@Plumbear2 With people living longer they probably take more out than what they paid in.

Let's start with the designing part. That way, the people who want to do the hectoring part might have a smaller number to convince.

This is not true.
If you are disabled and unable to work you had NI credits paid by the government.
Older SAHM had to pay NI credits or get no state pension. Lots of older women do not get a full state pension. Now SAHM get NI credits, but that is a relatively recent change.

I totally agree I’m on 3 different types of epilim for suspected epilepsy so that nearly £30 a month I am off work sick so on ssp due to having multiple seizures a week can not get medical exemption until officially diagnosed which is taking a while due to waiting time of nhs appointment I don’t know how I going to afford the next lot with all my bill going up ever month 🤦🏻‍♀️

This issue is that its the people in the middle who pay.. once again!

Prescriptions are almost £10 per item, that is ridiculous, its about time we started asking what has happened to all the money supposedly saved during Austerity and what has happened to the over £100 billion ReesMogg said recently that Brexit has saved us?

It would be better if we all paid something toward prescriptions, with only those on the lowest incomes getting them for free.