Prescription Charging

[kevofaz25]

Seems our friends north of the border are set to have free prescriptions to join Wales and Northern Ireland- only England now paying and usual mantra given that 60% of prescriptions are free which leaves me and many others in the 40% still paying for ours.

 

Any chance of an English assembly to sort this and other divisive policies? thought not

[inky pete]

I was quite surprised to be charged over ?75 a person by the NHS for 2 weeks worth of anti-malarials. There's no way the drugs themselves cost anything like that - in fact, I've since found that with a private prescription I would have been able to get them FROM THE SAME PHARMACY for about half of that. I daresay I could have got them even cheaper via the internet.

 

So, with a paid for (private) prescription and you pay under ?40 for your medication. But with an NHS prescription (still paid for just via your taxes) you get stung far more for the same tablets.

 

That's blatant profiteering by the NHS, and short-sighted too as it will just encourage some people to take a chance, skip the anti-malarials, and bring home a nice case of malaria for the NHS to fund the treatment of.

[Dizzy]

...... given that 60% of prescriptions are free which leaves me and many others in the 40% still paying for ours.

 

We were only taling about prescriptions last week and my dad (who gets all his free as he's old ) said it is a totally unfair system. OAP's, pregnant women, those on benefits etc etc all get their free while the rest of us have to pay over ?7 per item.

 

He came to the conclusion that it would be better and fairer if EVERYONE paid ?1 (or slighly more).

 

Makes sense to me

 

And now for my personal whinge.... I pay ?7.20 every month for my blood pressure tablets. I used to get 3 months suppy at a time until they finally put me me on a better quality tablet as the cheaper ones made me cough... now they will only give me one months supply at a time. It's not my fault they made me cough so why should I have to pay more now No wonder I have high blood pressure

[observer]

Diz, try garlic and/or beetroot juice - and maybe yoga!.

[Mary]

I realize that you are under a different system - but over here if you cannot afford insurance you pay completely out of pocket for the whole thing. Before my work insurance kicked in I paid $120(about 65 pounds) a month for two prescriptions.

 

Now if you have children and made less that $12,000 (about 7000 pounds) a year then you get it free. Also if you are over 65 then your prescriptions are supposed to be free - but not all are and so our oldies on fixed incomes are still paying out of pocket.

[observer]

Is that what they call "the American dream" Mary?!

[inky pete]

The point is, the NHS isn't free over here. Far from it - as a quick glance at my payslip each month confirms!

 

I could get comprehensive private health insurance for my family PLUS redundancy/unemployment insurance for less than I pay each month in NI contributions alone.

[Evil Sid]

currently i do not pay for my prescriptions but when i did have a job i could not afford to as it would have cost me over ?50 per month. i invested in a prepaid card. it cost at the time ?101.00 per year and was well worth it.

 

Mr sid gets hers free as with her condition she is entitled to an exemption card. she only has two items whereas i have five. if/when i get sorted with a job (hopefully within the next couple of weeks) i suppose i will have to buy another prepaid card

 

so if all the scots get free prescriptions who exactly is paying for it.

[Dizzy]

Diz, try garlic and/or beetroot juice - and maybe yoga!.

 

Do I eat it, drink it or rub it in

PS Once tried yoga but got the a loud case of the giggles as a number of people kept braking wind in the relaxation stage Couldn't face going again after that

 

Anyway back to prescription charges...

 

Evils.. that's a huge amount to have to pay out even with a prepaid card.

 

Like you say though WHO does fund the bill for all the Scots free medication. Probably us somehow seeing as though a lot of our government bods are scottish

[safeway56]

Scotland receives ?39 billion a year from England in subsidies to keep it's public services afloat

..... http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100424173538AAZZGq6

[observer]

We do - the British tax-payer - of which the majority are English. If we'd adopted devolution for the English Regions too, the North West could have been subsidised too - like the Jocks!

[Peter T]

We do - the British tax-payer - of which the majority are English. If we'd adopted devolution for the English Regions too, the North West could have been subsidised too - like the Jocks!

 

Bit late telling us now obs.

[observer]

Think folk were told at the time - problem was Prezzer should have just done it.

[Dizzy]

Scotland receives ?39 billion a year from England in subsidies to keep it's public services afloat

..... http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100424173538AAZZGq6

 

Well that's one CUT that should be made

[observer]

Alex Salmond would argue, that the North Sea oil lies in Scottish waters and more than covers that subsidy. The issue however is about redistribution - areas north of Watford Gap depend on some form of subsidy - the problem is, the way they've turned devolution into a dog's breakfast - Scotland gets it but WE don't.

[inky pete]

Alex Salmond would argue, that the North Sea oil lies in Scottish waters and more than covers that subsidy.

Salmond is very good at ignoring the inconvenient fact that the vast majority of North Sea oil comes from waters way outside the 12 mile limit. Scotland has no more claim to it than any other country.

The issue however is about redistribution - areas north of Watford Gap depend on some form of subsidy.

This is only true because the majority of UK and multi-national companies active in England are headquartered in the South East - so that's where their Corporation Tax is seen as being generated from, even if the majority of their profits are actually made in other parts of the country.

 

At the same time, a significant number of large companies active in Scotland are headquartered in Edinburgh or Glasgow - so Scotland sees the tax revenue from them as "Scottish money". Funnily enough, I don't remember Salmond offering to have Scottish taxpayers fund the bail out of Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax/Bank of Scotland or the Dunfermline Building Society!

[asperity]

Actually a country's economic zone extends up to 200 miles from the coast, not 12, so the Scots do have a point.

[asperity]

To save everybody checking:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Economic_Zone

 

[wahl]

If NI prescriptions and NHS services were restricted to British nationals and excluded the rest of the world, then prescription charges could be removed and the NHS could do what it was designed to do -- take care of the British people.

[observer]

Agree, but since when have British Governments done that?