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?

YANBU, especially with an aging population where seniors outnumber young adults.

See my post above yours on the irrelevance of that argument.

And it's possible to be relatively comfortably off and to recognise your relatively privileged position in that respect.

I think it is fair enough that people think this but where is the money coming from? And we are still having a situation where people who can afford to pay get things for free. Which means nothing is valued and gets stock piled.

I do see where you're coming from.

I'm under 60 ( not that far off it though) and in England and get my prescriptions free, because I've got an underactive thyroid. As well as the thyroxine I'm on citalopram for depression and lansoprazole fora I'd reflux (without it, the acid lingers in the upper part of my chest giving me severe coughing fits at night and making me tired the next day.)

If I was told from tomorrow I'd get my thyroxine free but I'd have to pay for the others-id probably grumble but would pay it.

I don't take the piss though. I don't use it for otc meds (except for a short period when I broke my shoulder-paracetamol tends to only come in small packs these days which wouldn't last long). I tend to use my common sense and/or a pharmacist for minor complaints and get stuff there.

After breaking my shoulder I started taking vit D and calcium supplements. I had a bone density scan recently which showed I was in early stages of osteoporosis and my GP recommended continuing. I think the NHS is reducing prescribing such supplements as they're normally cheap otc but even so I'd still buy them, they're peanuts from Boots.

I'm in Wales so prescriptions are free for everyone.... happy day.

The presciption charge is a tiny percentage of the cost of most medicines. The NHS have worked to stop giving prescriptions for things that are available over the counter for just this reason. The costs would be further lowered if the NHS Drs had time to do proper regular medication checks.

£50k is high for Cornwall!

Also our local pharmacies have carparks (the 4 local to me!)

🤔

In our pharmacy they look puzzled when you have it to pay for. I think far more people get free prescriptions than what pay.

What galls me is that the people that have to pay for them are the ones that pay into the system so are theoretically paying twice.

DH has several daily meds so he has a prepayment card, you should look at that OP

Oh yes, let's remove the very limited disability benefits there are left. That's how to make Britain a country to be proud of.

Why do the skinflints just want to take everything away from us? Britain used to be a country that looked after its people. That's what I want us to get back to.

I am sick of people like @taxguru trying to destroy Britain.

for acid reflux

Worse - they think England is the UK!!!

Alternatively, we could do a better job at designing taxation and benefits systems that don't create so many bottlenecks and cliff edges, rather than indulging ourselves with the fantasy that we can hector people into not caring whether it's worth their while to work more or not. This applies just as much to people complaining about UC recipients not wanting extra hours as it does to those who feel the same about people near the bottlenecks considering their marginal rates.

But you are not forced to not pay.
Just don’t sign the back of the prescription and pay.

So you think that the aimof the government should be to just reduce the wealth of the citizens and make people poorer over time?

A strange position, but OK.

£50k is not high.

The fact it is above average is a different matter.

An average can be comfortable or too low. Britain is a low wage economy. If that is good enough for you, that's fine - but I love this country and think british people deserve decent living standards.

It's around £110 per year for unlimited scripts if people are not on pension credit they should pay.

I understand the difficulties around the cost of medications. However as someone who is 60 I find the tone of the OP ageist and the potentially imaginary scenario just set up to create a reaction. That and comments about disability benefits makes it a depressing read.

It would only cost £10.81 per month for the pre-payment annual certificate which you can spread of 10 months at no extra cost. So it would only cost you hundreds if you did not apply for the certificate. You can get refunds for items you pay for whilst you are waiting for the certificate.

I really don't see why people in their 60s and early 70s should not be the same as people in their early 60s and late 50s who can also have many meds and squeezed budgets. The state cannot pay for everything. We collectively pay so much tax already.

I spent over 35 years never darkening the doors of my local GPs for myself whilst working full time and paying tax and NI. Even before then I only used the NHS for pregnancy related stuff. At age 69 I'm still working full time and, of course, paying tax. I now have a princely total of two relatively common and cheap medications on regular prescriptions. I think the NHS is still doing pretty well out of the deal. Sorry if you begrudge it to me as I drive off in my 6 year old Kia, OP.

It's amazing that the OP was able to;
pick their prescription up,
then accurately age everyone else in the queue,
then know for certain that the said prescriptions were all being collected by the person named on the prescription,
then keep an eye on the car park, which presumably must have been conveniently situated right outside, so that the OP could keep track of what cars everybody was getting into,
and all of this from a doctors surgery. Does your GP have a pharmacy attached with large plate glass windows right next to a big car park OP ?

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

Do you know they were free? Or were some (many?) of them on pre payment certificates? That's what I do. So while you may not see me paying, I do pay.

As people age they often need more preventative medication. It is cheaper to give free medication to all over 60's as means testing is expensive. Better to spend the money on free meds for over 60's than the admin involved in means testing. You.just sound jealous OP. You will be 60 one day.

That's interesting - I just pick up my meds from the pharmacy at the doctors, no signature on anything so that hadn't occurred to me.

Where's the hate towards old people exactly? I'm talking about making a fairer system for everyone. Maybe you could quote the words that I used that suggest I hate the elderly?

No idea what you are on about ? I’m in Scotland nobody pays ! 😂😂😂. And if the kids get poorly and we see the pharmacist they never allow us to pay for stuff and instead get us a prescription and it’s free ! It’s called “ how it should be “
You are not paying for any more than them , you are doing what they already did . You bate-se if getting upset with them , get upset with your Tory government that makes you pay prescriptions ! At least although I pay more tax up here I know here it’s going .

I am so sick of this race to the bottom BS. You cannot afford it so why should these pensioners have it. Maybe they have paid in to a system which should benefit them at some stage in their life?maybe we should look at stopping the tory scum wasting money on pools and heating stables and not to forgot their endless pay rises whilst neglecting those who take care of us in our hour of need. Just remember who's responsible here for the massive COL crisis here. So much could be fixed just by taxing the right sector of society and making sure big businesses pay.