Prescription charges for HRT

You can place the same argument on any chronic health condition. I have asthma and need inhalers every few months - I get charged for two prescriptions each time. If I didn't have the inhalers and had an attack, I could die.

I also have a chronic health condition which means every quarter I need to get an antifibrinolytic and a prescription anti-inflammatory. They don't work independentlly for what I have, but again, I have to pay double.  I don't get quite enough prescriptions for it to be worthwhile to get the prepay, so I just dole it out each time.

You could go on to say why aren't tampons available on the NHS?  Why should women have to have that additional cost burden? 

I totally disagree that women's health should be classed as anything other than equal importance to men's!

I don't see it as an issue of equal importance, more to do with individuals paying for treatments they cannot do without (and I'm treating free contraception as a seperate issue).
You have a potentially life-threatening condition and your inhalers should be free. Menopause is unavoidable, and can pose serious long-term health risks.  HRT should be free.

The NHS doesn't have a finite pot of cash, and difficult decisions always have to be made regarding what is funded and what isn't, but essential medicines should be free.

Nurse Ratched wrote (see)

I The NHS doesn't have a finite pot of cash, and difficult decisions always have to be made regarding what is funded and what isn't, but essential medicines should be free.

Bit contradictory that.... Finite pot of cash, but everything should be free....

No, essential medicines should be free, and prescription medication is only a part of the NHS budget which comes out of that finite pot. That gets us into the very sticky territory of defining 'essential', which will mean different things to different people.  And that's the job I wouldn't have for all the tea in China - deciding exactly which medicines should be supplied without charge. 

If you have something wrong with you, it's essential to you even if others think not

Given that only something like 20% of prescriptions are paid for (ie. 80% are free of charge for various reasons), it's no wonder those of us who do pay have to pay a lot.

Wilkie wrote (see)

Given that only something like 20% of prescriptions are paid for (ie. 80% are free of charge for various reasons), it's no wonder those of us who do pay have to pay a lot.

 

I know... Every time I pop a viagra I calculate how much it's costing me.....  Would be chaper to pop down Kings Cross and hope for the best 

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

If you have something wrong with you, it's essential to you even if others think not

Precisely.  

There just seems to me to be such inequality in some cases.  For example - asthmatics have to pay for inhalers, but smokers (through some routes) can get nicotine replacement therapy free.

so all prescriptions should be free

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

Wilkie wrote (see)

Given that only something like 20% of prescriptions are paid for (ie. 80% are free of charge for various reasons), it's no wonder those of us who do pay have to pay a lot.

 

I know... Every time I pop a viagra I calculate how much it's costing me.....  Would be chaper to pop down Kings Cross and hope for the best 

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

so all prescriptions should be free

Since it could be argued that doctors wouldn't prescribe a drug if it wasn't necessary, yes, prescription medication should be free. 
I suppose it all comes down to how the NHS spreads the allocation of thier total budget

I'm going back to smoking  - surely if you can afford to buy fags, you can afford nicotine replacement?

Dunno  Doesn't it depend on the inducements being offered by the drug reps ?

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

Dunno  Doesn't it depend on the inducements being offered by the drug reps ?

Excellent point.
When I was based in a GP surgery, our doctors wouldn't see reps, but I know lots do.

I'd like it to be free but I can understand that as I can afford to pay I'll have to pay. I'm really just querying why I have to pay 2 prescriptions for one course of treatment. As I understand it I have to have take Oestrogen and Progesterone for 2 weeks out of 4 because I have to have periods to cut the risk of endometrial cancer. I don't really understand why having 2 different sorts of pills which come on the SAME blister pack mean it counts as 2 prescriptions.

I've only just started HRT so maybe when we've agreed on what treatment is going to work on me the doctor will give me a longer course. I don't think I can be on patches until I'm ready for Oestrogen only which will be a few years off.

It seems unfair to me but I suppose I should just be grateful I don't have long-term health conditions which mean I'd have been paying this sort of money before.

I hope the NHS are going to do good work with the extra money they're getting off me!

Nurse Ratched wrote (see)

Dave The Ex- Spartan wrote (see)

Dunno  Doesn't it depend on the inducements being offered by the drug reps ?

Excellent point.
When I was based in a GP surgery, our doctors wouldn't see reps, but I know lots do.

Thought that was how Doc's can keep the gin habit going.....

Little Nemo - waving, not drowning! wrote (see)

I'd like it to be free but I can understand that as I can afford to pay I'll have to pay. I'm really just querying why I have to pay 2 prescriptions for one course of treatment. As I understand it I have to have take Oestrogen and Progesterone for 2 weeks out of 4 because I have to have periods to cut the risk of endometrial cancer. I don't really understand why having 2 different sorts of pills which come on the SAME blister pack mean it counts as 2 prescriptions.

I've only just started HRT so maybe when we've agreed on what treatment is going to work on me the doctor will give me a longer course. I don't think I can be on patches until I'm ready for Oestrogen only which will be a few years off.

It seems unfair to me but I suppose I should just be grateful I don't have long-term health conditions which mean I'd have been paying this sort of money before.

I hope the NHS are going to do good work with the extra money they're getting off me!

It will fund invaluable networking opportunities for medical staff.

Yep... One long jolly for the NHS staff.....

One real anomaly with charges is that if you have certain conditions then you do not pay for any prescription whether it relates to your condition or not. 

That's because there's no reference to your medication exemption on the card at all. My daughter gets all her prescriptions for free due to this.

Gah - 3 days of missed HRT due to my own incompetence and I am in a horrible mood

It now seems like money well spent to put me in a better frame of mind.

*waits impatiently for drugs to kick in*