Prescriptions Charges To Rise By 20P In England.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21629363

/// Free prescriptions were introduced in Wales in 2007, Northern Ireland in 2010 and Scotland in 2011. ///

Why should England be the only part of the UK to have to pay for prescriptions?

Why does the EU allow this discrimination?

[LazyGun]

@em Sorry, I am unclear about the point you are trying to make.

[emmie]

see last post

[LazyGun]

@em - Thats the post I was unclear about... what point are you trying to make?

[LazyGun]

@Em - sorry, disregard... just caught the post to which you are referring]

[emmie]

that prescription charges if you are not eligible and plenty of people are not, are very expensive, what is so hard to understand about that.

[LazyGun]

almost 8 quid is a rip off if you are not eligible, why are medicines so damn expensive, after all you look at some cancer drugs, they can be thousands of pounds, if they help to save a life that's great. but the actual monetary cost can be enormous.

@Em - Why is £8 a rip-off? Do you know how much a course of prescription drugs cost to manufacture and retail?

As to why medicines are so expensive, you would have to ask the Pharma companies that one - and they would reply that, our of the 100s of potential drugs they test for efficacy against the q00s of health conditions, only a very few actually show any actual benefit, and of those, only some will get past the phase 1 2 and 3 trials- all of which cost a lot of money, especially phase 3 trials. And thats all an up-front cost; They have to recoup it.

There is a lot of truth in that scenario, but undoubtedly they also wish to make a profit and pay dividends etc.

So what should the prescription charge be then? zero?

[LazyGun]

@Em - PLenty of people are not - true, around 50% of the population are not - but only 10% of prescriptions are paid for. Sounds pretty good to me.

What would rather, that all prescriptions were issued free to everyone?

[Old_Geezer]

Yes. Otherwise why are we not getting charged for, say, plastered legs, or syringed ears ? Or even a GP consultation ? Health is supposed to be provided as a society to stop the unfortunate getting hit by both health issues and payments the healthy don't need to make.

But the point of the thread was that different parts of the UK are getting treated differently which isn't very united.

[wolf63]

I didn't really think about the true cost of drugs until my little boy needed a private prescription for his asthma inhaler. (It is a scandal that the NHS doesn't cover non-human family members.)

The vet was selling me inhalers for £70 each - which would cover a couple of months. I managed to shop around but still had to pay £40.

[emmie]

OG, well said.

[LazyGun]

@ O_G Some of course might argue just that in the future of the NHS. The same argument applied regarding dentistry too, and glasses... prescriptions have fallen into that category.

Were it down to me, I would scrap prescription charges - but it isn't, and the difference between here and other parts of the UK bothers me not at all.

[emmie]

it bothers me, it's patently unfair, as are tuition fees.

[LazyGun]

is paying for your dental care unfair too, or your glasses?

[pdq1]

If prescriptions were free for all English citizens the drugs bill would go up because more people would ask for them. Better that they remain uncured so they can pass their illnesses onto the rest of the public.

[THECORBYLOON]

Anotheoldgit, it may be a united kingdom but health has been devolved for a fair few years and the Department of Health is responsible for England. If the DoH charges for prescriptions, complain to them and not about the other countries' choices.

[modeller]

As long as we , the English , don't pay for the freebies that they get, it is irrelevant how they spend their budget. However I would suggest we are paying them too much if they can afford to give out freebies which we can't.

[anotheoldgit]

LazyGun

/// Oh, the irony of AoG appealing to the EU to rescue the english from the perfidious discrimination - of their own parliament :) ///

Pity some cannot see into my irony, it was a dig at the EU, who seem to step in and protect others who do not deserve to be protected.

Perhaps a little too subtle for some, it would seem.

[FredPuli43]

Not so much subtle as invisible, aog.

[woofgang]

AOG, in other countries, different and worse rules apply...would you like those rules instead?

[maggiebee]

Come to SCOTLAND..................oh maybe not, enough incomers as it is.