Prescriptions, feeling agreived/scammed

[Longcol]

3 hours ago, Slighty batty said:

As a comparison, I live in the Netherlands where there’s no NHS. I’m retired. I pay €176 a month for health insurance (includes teeth) there’s a compulsory own risk of €385 a year on top of that and my blood pressure meds cost €56,50 a pop.  Also every time I collect my meds I get charged about €8 by the pharmacy for the intensive labour of putting 2 dinky boxes into a paper bag. 

 

I'm pretty sure your health insurance doesn't meet anything like the full cost of health care in the Netherlands, 

 

We have a similar system here in France where we pay for health insurance via a "mutuel" where all profits are ploughed back into the scheme. The rest is met by the state -  ie taxation.

 

We also pay for prescriptions from the pharmacy - basically a small contribution to the cost of the medication.

[spilldig]

15 hours ago, Wing Commander said:

How on earth have you been scammed?  You didn't have to pay to see the Doctor who gave you the prescription which will make you feel better.  £20 is a small price to pay to to get relief from abdominal pains. If you pay thousands in tax each year then you're earning enough money to afford the £20.  The next time you go to see the Doctor ask for  some tablets to cure your whinging.

Probably the same as me if you call 50 years of paying national insurance not paying.

[Wing Commander]

20 minutes ago, spilldig said:

Probably the same as me if you call 50 years of paying national insurance not paying.

Yes all taxpayers have made contributions which help to fund the NHS.  Surely if you have paid 50 years of national insurance then you no longer pay for your prescriptions because you're over 60 years of age?  

[ECCOnoob]

35 minutes ago, spilldig said:

Probably the same as me if you call 50 years of paying national insurance not paying.

 

Given only a small part of National Insurance payments goes towards NHS funding  its not really relevant.   Assume you still expect to receive you state pension right?   Well that's what the majority of your NI paid for.   The NHS still gets the vast majority of its funding from general taxation.  

 

Its estimated that an average worker doing a 40 year career will have paid around £250k - £260k in income tax with around another £150k in VAT over their lifetime. 

 

So, pretending for a second that taxes have absolutely nothing else they need to be paying for other than healthcare.  Out of that "£400k paid in" the system lets deduct a few same costs of NHS medical care an average person might have shall we.... 

Average GP visit £56 per appointment 

Average A+E visit £200 - £450 per attendance 

Average ambulance transport cost £400 per occasion 

You need a routine outpatient appointment with:

respiratory team  £332 + £142 per follow up visit

cardiology team £255 + £155 per follow up visit 

diabeties team £220 + £133 per follow up visit 

CT scan £150 - £400 each

MRI scan £180-£400 each

Cardiogram £100 each   

Delivering a baby between £2300 - £7000.

...and god forbid someone is unlucky enough to require more enhanced surgery as routine surgical procedures range between £1500 - £18,000 complex hip and joint replacements can be up to around £10,000 and organ transplants can be up to £100,000. That's before we even start with the costs of administrative support, facilities, premises, equipment, carers, support services..... 

 

Its a massive, flabby, bottomless money pit.   Everyone demands more and more and more is spent on NHS funding without a clue about how much is being drained out on it.   

 

Waaa waaa I have paid in enough they declare.   Well IMO people have not go a clue what their "paid in enough" equates to.  For many more people paying very little or not at all during their lives but still eagerly taking out - they really haven't a clue how much things actually cost.   But hey, its free at source.  They never see an invoice.  If they don't work and contribute so what - the state will pick up the tab....   Hey, if I fail to turn up for an appointment not my problem.   If I want to be a serial breeder expecting others to bankroll my offspring, I can be.  If I choose to do something reckless and end up in casualty, so what?  not me paying....   

 

Said multiple times before.  The system is ripe for absolute overhaul.  Massive streamlining.  Cut to bone to focus on a minimum core services and users need to be properly penalised for abusing, overusing, reckless, malingering and wasting of the services. 

 

[El Cid]

17 hours ago, Resident said:

Surely that's backwards? I pay thousands a year in taxes to pay for healthcare services already, shouldn't I be the one recieving "free" medication having techinically already paid for it?

 

Your taxes also pays for the courts, police, motorways, etc. so the issue may be that the NHS needs more funding than just income tax and VAT etc.

I don't like things being free, it creates waste, but 90% of people get free prescriptions - thats the over 60s, but that is under review.

[Wing Commander]

I'm surprised Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales haven't been mentioned where 100% of residents get free prescriptions. 

[ECCOnoob]

7 minutes ago, Wing Commander said:

I'm surprised Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales haven't been mentioned where 100% of residents get free prescriptions. 

I am sure it will do eventually.  Yes, they have chosen to spend their money in a different way.

 

Behind all the headline it has to be asked ......  But at what cost to the service overall?  What costs to the taxpayer whose devolved budget may have been used to fund other things which also need attention?

 

Also cannot help but mention the highly publicised stats on how NHS Wales is performing worse than NHS England in several areas.  Northern Ireland  had the British Medical Association reporting a couple of years ago that their service, on almost every measure, performed worse than anywhere else in the UK. 

 

Take money from one thing to provide some grandstanding gesture and something else is gonna suffer.

[El Cid]

Here is a list.

 

Item     Current charge (1 April 2023 to 30 April 2024)     Charge from 1 May 2024     Change in £
Single prescription charge     £9.65     £9.90     £0.25
3-month PPC     £31.25     £32.05     £0.80
12-month PPC     £111.60     £114.50     £2.90
HRT PPC     £19.30     £19.80     £0.50
Surgical bra     £31.70     £32.50     £0.80
Abdominal or spinal support     £47.80     £49.05     £1.25
Stock acrylic wig     £78.15     £80.15     £2.00
Partial human hair wig     £207.00     £212.35     £5.35
Full bespoke human hair wig     £302.70     £310.55     £7.85

 

Not sure why HRT is treated differently from other medications, surely that is discriminating?

I can understand, as a bald man, why wigs are not free.

 

 

[HeHasRisen]

5 hours ago, El Cid said:

Not sure why HRT is treated differently from other medications, surely that is discriminating?

Surely that depends if it works out cheaper or not, if it's nineteen quid for a whole year that's a damn sight cheaper than a normal PPC.

[lavery549@yahoo]

On 12/07/2024 at 17:59, Resident said:

Is it wrong to feel agreived and even scammed regarding prescriptions.

Just been to the docs for abdominal pains, prescribed 2 lot of antibiotics (due to allergies) & paid the princely sum of £20 because I work.

Yet if I were a dole squatting, oxygen theiving, resource drain on society, they'd have been free.

Surely that's backwards? I pay thousands a year in taxes to pay for healthcare services already, shouldn't I be the one recieving "free" medication having techinically already paid for it?

Excuse me , why would you be prescribed antibiotics for abdominal pains ?  GPS have strict protocol when prescribing Antibiotics due to an increase in immunity to them because of over prescribing . I do agree though , that costs are bad