Tarne Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Just bear in mind that the £18 million is the total cost of prescriptions, not the amount that it costs due to people not showing ID. It's a Manx Radio news story that seems to say it costs £18 mill just for people getting prescriptions for free without being entitled to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stinking enigma Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Shouldn't be too difficult to backdate payments. I find it difficult to believe that many people are trying to claim prescriptions for free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterflies Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Well, now I know that there are no checks that's my prescriptions free from now on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Why should people on benefits get free prescriptions? Cos they've got booze and fags to pay for? And Sky and the iPhone etc. And tattoos, don't forget the tattoos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 To be fair people who are on lifetime medication get an exemption and I expect a lot of pharmacies know that certain repeat presciptions fall into that category. I doubt it costs as much as people think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 A nation of ill people, at over £200 a head that is some going. In Scotland, prescribing spending per head has increased by 3 per cent in real terms between 2012 and 2013, from £171 to £176. England has the lowest prescribing spend per person, at £142 in 2013. Source here Northern Ireland beats us hands down. I appreciate that this may not be like for like, depending on how IoM figure is arrived at. Still, a lorra wonga though. UK looks pretty shit from this graph, unless it is highly efficient? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Why should people on benefits get free prescriptions?Cos they've got booze and fags to pay for? And Sky and the iPhone etc. And tattoos, don't forget the tattoos. And nail and hair jobs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmanx Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 The evaders are probably the bigger issue to be fair. You and I both know that is not true. NHS said that prescription fraud for the whole of the UK was £230ish million in 2014. How much tax was evaded that year? And how much was avoided? "National estimates. Sept 2014 – Tax evasion in 2014 – on the UK Tax gap, Tax Research. Estimating that tax evasion might cost the UK £85 billion a year; tax avoidance might cost of £19 billion and tax not paid £18 billion." eh? You've just evidenced that evasion is a bigger issue than avoidance. Which is what I said. You've then said I'm wrong and provided the above which suggests i'm right? Evasion estimates are at 4 times avoidance estimates. Your statement read in continuation of mine that tax evaders are more of a problem than prescription fraud. That is why my evidence shows that it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlo Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Why should people on benefits get free prescriptions? Cos they've got booze and fags to pay for? And Sky and the iPhone etc. And tattoos, don't forget the tattoos. I hope the tattooists have permission from the Ded to use that word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Just bear in mind that the £18 million is the total cost of prescriptions, not the amount that it costs due to people not showing ID. It's a Manx Radio news story that seems to say it costs £18 mill just for people getting prescriptions for free without being entitled to it! That's a very good point. For that statement to be true, with a prescription fee of £3.85 per item, that would mean 4.65 million prescriptions per year were wrongly paid free. I think the radio does make this clear... http://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/proof-not-required-for-prescriptions-dhsc/ "It's emerged almost £18 million was spent on NHS medication in 2016, prompting the DHSC to try recoup some of that money." Some will be free, some will be for a reduced cost (i.e. the prescription fee). People who pay prescription fees are making a contribution to the costs of the medicine not paying the full cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Onchan Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 The evaders are probably the bigger issue to be fair. You and I both know that is not true. NHS said that prescription fraud for the whole of the UK was £230ish million in 2014. How much tax was evaded that year? And how much was avoided? "National estimates. Sept 2014 – Tax evasion in 2014 – on the UK Tax gap, Tax Research. Estimating that tax evasion might cost the UK £85 billion a year; tax avoidance might cost of £19 billion and tax not paid £18 billion." The majority of that is corporate tax, via the Netherlands/Irish/third country triangle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Onchan Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Just bear in mind that the £18 million is the total cost of prescriptions, not the amount that it costs due to people not showing ID. It's a Manx Radio news story that seems to say it costs £18 mill just for people getting prescriptions for free without being entitled to it! That's a very good point. For that statement to be true, with a prescription fee of £3.85 per item, that would mean 4.65 million prescriptions per year were wrongly paid free. I think the radio does make this clear... http://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/proof-not-required-for-prescriptions-dhsc/ "It's emerged almost £18 million was spent on NHS medication in 2016, prompting the DHSC to try recoup some of that money." Some will be free, some will be for a reduced cost (i.e. the prescription fee). People who pay prescription fees are making a contribution to the costs of the medicine not paying the full cost. Actually, I believe that DHSC should work with pharmacies to source better/more cost effectively. I buy my meds privately and two items are cheaper over the counter to buy than pay £3.85/item. There must be a substantial number of meds that are outside trademark/licensing restrictions and can and should be made available over the counter without prescription. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bees Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Er ma gad, I totally expected the prescription to go back to CGO when the chemist had done with it, where it would be audited a little bit. Jesus, that's nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoTail Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Very few evaders, lots of avoiders though. Big difference. How do you work that out? Accountants and lawyers make lots of money assisting people to avoid tax. If they even become aware that there may be taxable evasion they could potentially face prison if they do not report it. Tax evasion is illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 People who pay prescription fees are making a contribution to the costs of the medicine not paying the full cost. Generally but not always. Some generic drugs cost very little although admin no doubt costs. Never had a problem paying for my lifetime med but was a little taken aback whilst on holiday across and stupidly ran out and did not have to pay any charge over there as I am >60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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