[Closed] Prescription charges abolished in Scotland...

how is that fair?

You get to vote, that's how it's fair.

Somebody has to pay for my free prescriptions 😉

You get to vote, that's how it's fair.

The people i voted for didn't say anything about doing that 😕

Also free in Northern Ireland and Wales.

Devolved Parliament for England 😯 Where should it be located?

Devolution for England??

Devolution for England is no solution to prescription charges. The Tories would almost certainly win the English elections. The only solution is not to vote Tory, or their New Labour counterparts. That's if you don't like prescription charges of course, but if you don't mind a government which taxes the sick, then carry on voting Tory.

The only point I was making is that all of the parts of the UK that have no prescription charges are devolved.

Is it because of the arc of prosperity?

a government which taxes the sick

🙄

Wipe the foam from your mouth mate.

Actually, 90% of prescriptions in England are also free.

However, the reason that they are [i]all[/i] free in the other countries is that those devolved governments have made cuts in other areas of spending in order to make this possible.

Oh of course it's not a tax on the sick ?

So how do you account that prescription charges bear no relationship to the cost of the prescription
then ?

It is a fixed sum charged by government, whatever you get back. In other words what is commonly referred to as a "tax".

Stop being such a sucker for Tory propaganda.

Not getting stuff for free is a tax?

No wonder this country got broken.

People who need free prescriptions already get them, this is a huge drain on public resources, reckless politics.

Given the choice of paying for prescriptions or paying the actual price of medicines, I'll pay prescription charges with joy in my heart and a spring in my step, if it's all the same to you.

Tax on the sick? Do you actually believe this stuff Ernie, or do you just post wild inflammatory comments in order to start debate?

LOL @ Bimbler. 😀

I blame TJ! Ultimately its the English taxpayer who's footing the bill for his HRT. Its a disgrace!

Actually, 90% of prescriptions in England are also free.

I think this what a lot of people don't realise.

but if you don't mind a government which taxes the sick, then carry on voting Tory.

So only 10% of them are taxed then, and I didn't really see much change to that after 14 years of Labour.

I'd say people who don't need free prescriptions already get them too.

I get all my prescriptions free, it's nice but I can't honestly say I need it.

I'd be in favour of an overhaul of the current exemptions.

It's the thin end of the wedge, whatever next ? Free eye tests ? Free University tuition fees? Free personal care for the over 65s ?

Tax on the sick? Do you actually believe this stuff

Of course it's a tax on the sick, for precisely the reasons I gave.

Thatcher refused to call the Poll Tax the Poll Tax, preferring instead to call it the Community Charge. Does that mean that the Poll Tax was just a "charge" and not a tax......because the Tories said so ?

Prescription charges are a tax collected by government, simple as.

If the prescription charges were removed and the cost raised instead from income tax, for example, would it suddenly, and "magically" become a tax ? ffs

Some of you geezers live with the fairies

See my thread on saving the NHS.
Just as an after thought how about we stopped dropping bombs on other countries. We could probably have free prescriptions...and some.

It's the thin end of the wedge, whatever next ? Free eye tests ? Free University tuition fees? Free personal care for the over 65s ?

A child's face?

Oh look what I've found molgrips, the British Medical Association calls prescription charges a "tax on the sick"

[i]The BMA accepts that these are financially difficult times, said Dr Meldrum but, he added: "[u]this is a tax on the sick[/u] that contributes only a modest amount to the NHS budget and does not offset the unfair disadvantage of asking the ill to pay for their medicine."[/i]

[url= http://www.mstrust.org.uk/news/recentstories/article.jsp?id=4535 ]Doctors slam UK prescription charge "lottery"[/url]

So do you think the doctors in the BMA need to '[i]wipe the foam from their mouths[/i]' too ?

ernie_lynch - oh dear, it's not a tax, it's a charge, if you're ill and need medicine then you pay for it, a logical transaction if you're able to afford it, and a lot of people in Wales and Scotland can afford it. Obviously a additional contribution has already been made in other taxes or NI, but the prescription charge itself is not a tax. It's important to be clear on that.

Poll Tax has become the Council Tax and on the whole seems fair, although the valuation bands need an update.

I'm off to have a beer with some fairies.

Bleeding hell ernie, bit melodramatic! Whilst technically you may be correct in calling it a tax I consider it more of a standard flat fee for medicine to make you better (if you can afford it/should pay for it) you know so your medium to low income earners can afford those pricey drugs they need. Admittedly you're getting short changed on the 20p cheapo antibiotics the doc gives you to make you go away when he can't figure out whats wrong but I'm happy with a prescription charge (and that was before I knew it was only 10% of people who had to pay)

I'm off to have a beer with some fairies.

You might as well mate

"Prescription charges are a tax collected by government, simple as."

When I worked in retail pharmacy I seem to remember that the prescription charge actually goes to the pharmacy as payment for [i]dispencing[/i] the medicines (hence the prescription charge having no relation to the cost of the actual drug).

The returns procedure for prescriptions that are exempt from payment was completely seperate because of the extra process of getting the payment for the pharmacy.

This was a while ago mins so might have all changed

Dr Meldrum! - [b]I DON'T BELIEVE IT[/b]

Bleeding hell ernie, bit melodramatic! Whilst technically you may be correct in calling it a tax

So suddenly its "melodramatic" to call a spade a spade is it ?

The language used by me is the same language as used by the BMA. I'm sorry if that upsets a few Tories on here and makes them feel uncomfortable.

Actually I'm not really ........... I love winding up Tories 😀

the British Medical Association calls prescription charges a "tax on the sick"

The can call it what they like, it doesn't make it fact.

More relevant however is "... that contributes only a modest amount to the NHS budget" - is this right, do we know where the money goes? Will this 20p increase go towards paying for medicines, or does it get handed over to the government to pay for HD TVs and hookers?

Those people in England who actually have to pay prescription charges can afford them. Those who can't get them free.

As part of devolution those in Scotland can choose where to spend their money. They have chosen to spend it on free prescriptions. This means that they will have less money for other choices.

Note: Just because the Scottish assembly makes something free does not mean that it can be paid for. There is supposed to be free personal care, but the budget allocated for it is not big enough. Everybody sees the headlines but not the realities in delivering it.

I love winding up [s]Tories[/s] [b]everyone[/b]

FTFY.

It does appear an odd system at times with who gets what free etc.

I need to take 1 drug on a daily basis so I get free prescriptions, not just for that condition but for any other prescription item I need, for any other condition or ailment

That's me Cougar.

Thanks for fixing that for me btw 8)

So suddenly its "melodramatic" to call a spade a spade is it ?

oh and I'm not a tory 🙂

I don't understand how some treatment like diabetes medicine is free yet my inhalers are 7 quid whatever each and they only give me one for 7 quid. So 2 inhalers is 15 quid.

I keep fit etc to help it but I can't Keep it at bay without my purple inhaler. Surely I have a right to breath for free? Or should I just not bother, drink, smoke and overeat and get all the treatment from the nhs include free nicotine patches!

It's a National Health Service the 'Nation' should pay equally.

carbon I was not aware of that, I thought lifelong things like diabetes (and asthma I'd have thought) qualified for free stuff.
That's starting to sound more like a "[b]tax on the sick[/b]"
😳

edit I think nicotine patches used to be standard charge but you could get several weeks supply per script so quite a bit cheaper than rrp, might have changed tho.

rewski - Member
It's a National Health Service the 'Nation' should pay equally.

My partner's brother is diabetic - without his medication his life is at risk. He gets free prescriptions. Yay!

But she is asthmatic - without her medication her life is at risk, but she pays £7.40 prescription charge per inhaler and she needs two different ones. However, you can buy them over the counter in most of continental Europe; where they are cheaper.

This does not seem just.

I dunno how I feel about prescription charges - I have to buy my asthma medication, but then I got more free healthcare when I was a kid than some people use in a lifetime (and of course all of my medication until I started working was free). Now, the NHS subsidises the cost of medicine here - a quick Google suggests that if I lived in America my inhaler would cost between $30 and $100 a pop.

Not sure if I would call it a "sick tax" either earnie - I'm no Tory, but I ain't sick, and it isn't a tax.

How does that work uplink?

dunno, it just does

I think it's a case of if your condition is on the list you get it, if it's not, you don't

What we have spent "liberating" Libya would probably have cost more than giving free prescriptions to all with a free circumcision and tonsillectomy thrown in.

But seeing as there is this inequity, which way will STW swing?

Drag everyone down to the same level and prescription charges all round while denigrating those who have been getting their prescriptions free.

Or,

campaign to get all prescriptions free?

You mean that children, the elderly, the poor and the terminally ill should also pay?

Of course not, and neither should women during pregnancy and people who have to take daily medication. In an ideal world all prescriptions would be free, as originally intended when the NHS was started back in 1948.