Helping the government save money

[Samdelila]

I think free prescriptions for people with certain conditions should be means tested. What else could the government cut to save money?

Oh right. Well I was medically exempt anyway, and now I’m pension age. But, if I ever need to do it, I’ll get a PPC. 👍

@gamerchick it was £1300ish after tax. https://www.gov.wales/basic-income-care-leavers-wales-pilot-evaluation-annual-report-2024-2025-summary-html

The experiment was not continued due tk cost.

Yes it does. The disabled will claim they need extra to pay for all the extra costs they incur that a non disabled person wouldn't. Renters in expensive areas will claim they need extra to pay their rent which may be twice as much as those renting in cheaper areas. And so it goes on......

Add into that those who get prescriptions from their dentist for fluoride toothpaste. Utterly ridiculous. My sister in law works in a dental surgery and they have a pre-inked stamp and would stamp entire packs of paper prescriptions in advance for the dentist to sign and hand out, basically to anyone who asked for one! Yes, "some" people with specific teeth issues need higher strength fluoride toothpaste, but the dentists are "happy" enough to give prescriptions to anyone. No surprise it's the "freebie" brigade who ask for them, i.e. OAPs, disabled, unemployed, etc.

I agree OP.
I think my DH should get free prescriptions for his medication for a condition caused by going to war. He also needs hearing aids for damaged eardrums caused by firing a light gun whilst in the army for 20yrs. We paid over £300 for them.

But she is paying into the system more than most!!! How unfair is that - she’s paying massive amounts of tax - she should be able to get essential medicines.

But if prescriptions are free for all, the cost will have to be paid for by MORE tax hikes, so she probably ends up paying more tax than she'd pay for a prescription prepayment as it would be high earners like her who end up paying more tax than low earners or those living on benefits.

No, not all. Those in receipt of a contributions based legacy benefit can’t.

Unfortunately many social housing providers act the same way private landlords do.

If she didn’t need those painkillers, they wouldn’t be on her available list of medications, they must’ve been added by a GP at some time for her to order when needed. Plus you can only get a small box of 16 of these over the counter at any one time - so if she needs them adhoc, a small packet doesn't go far.
And no, not all people 60+ are routinely asking for meds they don’t need 🙄 but it’s wholly possible that some others, well under pension age, maybe doing just that as well?

Is he not on a War Pension or service invalidity pension? WP definitely gives exemption for service related conditions and there is a similar scheme for younger veterans. Speak to the VA

@taxguru did you just call disabled people part of the 'freebie brigade' ??

Just because she can - doesn't mean that she should. However some doctors surgeries remove medications from patients repeat lists as they have not requested them for some months. This means that the next time it is actually needed that an appointment must be made with the doctor to re-intstate it even though in the interim a saving is being made - however small.
But I do agree that some medications are cheaper bought over the counter - maybe the pharmacists could police this one by pointing out that paracetamol is 75p or whatever. But they have enough to do without adding this to their daily routines as well as taking on some areas of the local GP work load that the government thinks they can do without pay.
But there are numerous ways money can be saved and a time and motion study in all areas of expenditure would definitely be an eye opener. Having worked in procurement for education - there are ways and means of saving money and time. Very often you just need to ask the people at the coal face not some bureaucrat high up in management who hasn't got a clue of what is actually reasonable and cuts back on the necessary stuff and passes off a wasteful expenditure.

For years CCGs have been restricting and giving guidelines on prescribing OTC medications. https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clinical-areas/musculoskeletal-rheumatology-sports-medicine/gps-come-under-pressure-to-stop-prescribing-over-the-counter-drugs/

CCGs also frequently give instructions to GPs to change what they are prescribing if there are cheaper alternatives. They spend a lot of time looking at cost savings and this increases admin time and often annoys patients as like for like is often not like for like.

I beg your pardon? The freebie brigade??

Means testing would just exacerbate the divide between those working and paying huge amount of tax and everyone else. People already feel it's unfair that they pay tax and receive crap services back, let alone if everyone else gets free dental care/prescriptions/childcare that they can ill afford due to being taxed to the eyeballs. We aren't talking millionaires but people on £50-60k salaries like teachers and nurses who aren't entitled to anything but their salary goes nowhere these days.

Their taxes will just get huger and higher if nothing is done to stem the ever increasing benefits bill.

There are other areas that can be looked at in order to save money too,as have been mentioned and there are probably many more around for instance, councils/ nhs/ government contracting so much out and paying alot for an often crap service.

The system for free prescriptions for certain conditions is extremely out of date & unfair.

For example Someone taking lamotrigine or sodium valproate for well controlled epilepsy gets it free plus gets any other prescription items free but someone taking the identical drugs on identical dose for severe & enduring schizoaffective disorder has to pay for everything.

If they are healthy, they won’t actually need medication. 🤷‍♀️

For decades contraception has been free (and I would assume mainly to women aged teens to 50s) and now the morning after pill is too, maybe we should make a nominal charge for this? All of those going on about the 60+ brigade seem to easily forget how much you get for FREE too….your little pill, or whatever preferred method…..and when that stops or fails, you get maternity services and a team to help giving birth in a hospital……all for free)

I buy my pill from Boots Its called Hana and im child free by choice and i hate the bloody ageism on here

As a generally principle, I believe in universalism:

I'd rather that everyone got free prescriptions.
I'd rather that everyone got free university education.
I'd rather that all disabled people whose lives come with extra costs as a result of their disability got a payment to cover that.
I'd rather that old people who needed social care got it paid for.
And so on.

And that would be funded by a bit more tax - so rather than the better-off having to do without funding for certain things if they're unlucky enough to need them, they'd have to pay a share of funding those things whether they needed them or not.

I'd be very surprised if providing free contraception didn't result in a net saving to the state (and therefore the taxpayer) rather than a net cost.

It almost certainly results in a net saving and should be kept.