NHS prescriptions,?

Question

how did the whole medical exemption come about and who decided which conditions would be?

exempt from charges and those that weren't , what did they base their criteria / decisions on

i find it mind boggling that someone with cancers pays for their prescriptions while a type two diabetic doesn't for example, as we all know diet and lifestyle play a large part in type 2

Answer 1

Entitlement to help with health costs (NHS prescription and dental charges, optical and hospital travel costs) is based on the principle that those who can afford to contribute should do so, while those who are likely to have difficulty in paying should be protected.

Whilst I agree that people with cancers of any type should not have to pay for their prescriptions, neither should a diabetic. Both need their medication to survive, and it makes no sense that they should have to pay for their medication on top of their taxes.

I understand other people paying for their prescriptions for example, I get so many UTI's it's unbelievable, they are not life-threatening and it's a simple dose of antibiotics for a few weeks and then it's gone, at the moment I'm 17 and still in full-time education so I'm exempt from prescription charges but won't be for much longer and I don't see why I should make the other tax payers in this country pay for my antibiotics when I can pay for them myself.

What really annoys me is the fact that some immigrants don't pay for their prescription at all. I was in the pharmacy a few weeks ago, getting another dose of antibiotics (this time for my daughter who has a congenital heart defect so I didn't need to pay [no I don't scrounge off the state, I work, I pay my way in this world like every other mother who wants the best for their child]), a Polish woman was sat beside me with her prescription and I happened to notice she too had a prescription for the same antibiotics as my daughter, yet she did not pay for her prescription. I saw no medical exemption certificate, she was not getting diabetic medication or anything like that, and that annoys me more than most things about immigration in this country at the moment.

http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/issu...

http://www.healthybytes.co.uk/nhs_exempt...

Might answer some of your questions

Answer 2

Well income is one deciding factor, people who are on a certain level of low income (below £15,000 a year I beleive) get their prescriptions free.  On that income you'd really struggle to pay for medications, especially if you have to take a lot of them.  Children and elderly are also exempt.  The idea is that only working adults on a higher level of income have to pay.  Someone on £40,000 might complain about having to pay prescription charges but it is unlikely to cripple them financially.  A low income family or single mother, however, might have to choose between buying extra food or her prescription meds.

Of course, all prescriptions are free in Wales (where I live) but thats how it works in the the rest of the UK to my knowledge.  My mother in law lives in Kent, is disabled amd has to pay for her own medication, which seems unfair when she takes so much of it!  Maybe disabled people or  those dependent on drugs such as diabetics, or people who have to take multiple drugs should be exempt as well . . .

Answer 3

Well there has to be rationing under Universal Health Care. Some gov't bureaucrat did some cost benefit analysis and came up with it being more advantageous to fund Type 2 Diabetes care and not Fund Cancer treatment.

What people never realize that ALL health care is rationed either by the state or by the market.

I would much rather have the market regulate the rationing. At least the individual has control of his own health care.

Answer 4

diabetics are on long-term medication, it would be unrealistic and unfair to expect them to pay.

Can't say why cancer sufferers have to pay though, didn't know that.

Answer 5

Are you implying that people who are type 2 diabetic are sick through their own fault?

Answer 6

I have a bone marrow cancer and I have to pay for my medication, so you can imagine how angry it makes me.