Asthmatics in England pay for prescriptions

[Auburngal]

Any asthmatic in England who doesn't qualify for free prescriptions pay has to pay for their prescriptions.

Hopefully these people have some sense and get a prepayment certificate for £114.50. Which is paid monthly over 10 months per year. I have three daily asthma medications plus reliever and an emergency pack of oral steroids. If I didn't have a prepaid certificate - I would have spend about £420 a year (prescriptions are £9.90 per item)

Its disgusting that asthmatics have to pay for medication that makes them able to breathe and live a normal life. Over the past 5 years, 4 people have died per day from asthma.

Some sources say asthma isn't exempt as people grow out of it. Bullshit. My asthma has got WORSE since having covid twice. Before covid, I was on reliever and one daily medication. Now the daily medication is double strength and on two further meds. Plus I didn't get diagnosed with asthma till I was 12/13.

Even my GP who I saw an hour ago thinks its disgusting and he's asthmatic himself.

I couldn't believe it when I found out I could get my prescription free for an underactive thyroid, I take most of my medication (about 10 pills a day) for heart failure.
RESULT with the thyroid !

Ah, you're one of those. 🙄 Yet another ageist thread.

What, really? Epipens too?

Gosh. Makes me feel lucky. If I'd been born a couple of decades earlier, I'd probably have died before adulthood. Now, that's a sobering thought/reason to be grateful!

I totally agree, it’s appalling it isn’t included on the exemption list. I was diagnosed as an infant (now mid 30s) and my mum almost lost me twice as a young child. I spent weeks on end hospitalised with my asthma, practically lived there at one point, spent many Christmas days in hospital. I was so poorly with it.

I think the reason it isn’t exempt is because of how asthma is seen generally, people really do not see it as being bad. They see some people who use an inhaler and then they’re better, just a quick puff and all is well again. I think if people had first hand experience of an asthma attack they’d be bloody shocked.
It also doesn’t help that you go to the doctors and they just prescribe an inhaler for anything these days. My husband had a small cough once and some other symptoms (not breathing related), he left with an inhaler. Two out of three of our children have been given inhalers over the years for various illnesses, they do not have asthma.

I feel every other person has an inhaler these days. It dilutes the seriousness of the condition. Not being able to breathe is bloody terrifying, you can be fine one minute and dead the next with asthma!

How is that post ageist?

Yep. I think they started to become a thing in the 80s. Prior to that it was syringe and a more time consuming process.

I’m similar, if I had been born in previous decades I’d have died as a baby.

Yeah it’s a hard one because where do you draw the line? I also take three daily asthma meds plus emergency steroids. Also on daily antidepressants, need an epipen and have occasional migraine relief meds. I do the sensible thing and pay for a prepayment certificate, saves me a bloody fortune. My mum on the other hand has a daily thyroid tablet and gets everything else she requires for free because of it. I’m not sure of the logic but no party is going to take free meds away from people, it’s a vote killer. They’re not going to increase the list of conditions either due to cost. It sucks but it’s where we are.

It’s really not a judgement on the seriousness or otherwise of asthma.

The list was created in 1968. Asthma inhalers weren’t in common use at the time. The exempt conditions all had a regular treatment at the time of the list creation.

The only addition to it in all those years was when Gordon Brown’s government added cancer in 2008/2009.

I think asthma should be included in
the list of chronic conditions that mean exemption. Type 2 diabetics are exempt and salbutamol is more critical than metformin

You can always rely on Labour to improve the health of the nation!

I mean... its £10 a month. I kind of think you have to get on with it, especially as you pay monthly.

I have an autoimmune disease and I pay? Where do you draw the line realistically? Why are we saying asthma is worse than an autoimmune disease or vice versa?

Yes and no.

Yes, adding cancer patients was a great move.

However, they dodged a full review just as every government since, and many before, did.

The same could be said for any debilitating condition or illness though. I get migraines that floor me for weeks at a time and leave me unable to get out of bed. I take medication twice a day to prevent them. Should I get my prescriptions free too?

(I do think ALL prescriptions should be free).

It is no more or less disgusting than anybody with any condition paying for their prescriptions. In England prescriptions are charged and that's that really.

Far more serious and chronic lung conditions such as COPD and cystic fibrosis (which decimates quality of life and kills prematurely) are not exempt and so I really shouldn't see why asthma would or should be.

No one has said asthma is worse than an auto immune disease?

Asthma kills 3 people a day. It's not the mildly irritating problem people think it is.

It can be a serious and debilitating illness. Mine has left me struggling to walk.

The system is potty.

DH has some really complex needs. Some medications are provided directly by the hospital. They aren't technically available on the NHS, but his consultant is able to obtain the medication providing DH provides regular blood samples. Other medications he has to pay for. He has a prepaid certificate.

I have well controlled epilepsy, and am arguably healthier than DH, yet have all my prescriptions for free.

Dd's doctor was surprised at this when she told him recently.

Yet if your diabetic type 2 your diabetes medication is free plus any others you use!

There is a petition about it somewhere. Probably closed during elections though.

Write to Mps after today.

People have been writing to mps for decades. They aren't going to remove conditions from the list. Type 2 diabetes is included because when the list was drawn up in the 60s it was considered the same disease as type 1 and insulin was the only treatment.

Really sorry, I'm not familiar with the cut off points so i don't understand the figures you are talking about. I also am not here to argue about if the current cut off point in England is correct. I just disagree with free prescriptions for all

I think it's disgusting that ANYONE in England should have to pay for their prescriptions,seeing as everyone in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland get them for free!

I'm so glad that our prescriptions in Scotland are free and it's fascinating for me to read of people happy to pay. I could pay now but as a very low earner in the 90s there was no way I could have saved up for a prepayment cert and so I had to choose only one of the three inhalers I was prescribed to actually get. A horrible choice. I don't want that for anyone.

As others have mentioned, the percentage of prescriptions dispensed for free is so high that it barely makes sense to have the overhead of checking and means testing the remainder. It shouldn't cost money to bring your health on a level with everyone else, whether that be inhalers, insulin, HRT.

Being completely honest, after it got somewhat manageable, I declined to order my medication.
I think some basic meds that ensure people survive should be free, for example diabetes, thyroid, breathing, glasses and dental. Taxes should pay for basics.

And by somewhat manageable, I mean not needing to be hospitalised when I have an attack.
I'm guessing these are the reasons you see adult asthma deaths.

I pay via prepayment certificate. It means I can also include an occasional prescription of antibiotics etc if needed through the year.

I used to get free prescriptions. Nothing has changed except the MW has increased through the last few years. So although cost of living and MW have all risen together the earnings level for prescription help hasn't risen with these increases so although nothing in my circumstances has really changed I can't get help now.