Prescription Charges

[torque2me]

Originally Posted by genpk

Nothing surprises me now over your way when i found out you guys are still required to pay death taxes on your properties!!
Fancy paying taxes all your life only to be taxed again after your dead!!

A certain "blue" party has won two election on the lie that it would be abolished. Six billion is six billion!

Kev

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by wraymond

Watching and listening to the Scottish government broadcasts from their chamber is embarrassing. The anger and resentment exceeds what happens in UK parliament by a very long way. And their stagey antics in Westminster are appalling. For me, with Scottish ancestry, that is sad.
I've never seen such bitter so-called pride.

Quite.

You are not alone in thinking this. More and more look at the staged resentment we see and wonder why Scotland gets £1.30 from the public purse whilst they get just a £1?

Or to put it in percentage terms for every £1 of tax paid - England gets 96p per person whilst Scotland gets 118p. Even Barnett himself who designed the Barnett Formula as a short term answer to a specific issue - has long said that it should be scrapped as it is so manifestly unfair.

The aggressive antics and tactic you describe have enabled Scotland to grab more than its fair share of the kitty and the constant “give us more or we will leave” dummy spitting is now being seen for exactly what it is.

Sadly the more sensible Scottish people know a good thing when they are benefitting directly - and so allow the Independence shenanigans to persist. But sadly for the rest of us - this means that any referendum in Scotland on Independence is not likely to vote for it.

£1 versus £1.30 is quite an incentive.

If Scotland really wants Independence - they have to let the English vote.

[mbev51]

Surely this post is about prescription changes!

[Simondi]

Originally Posted by mbev51

Surely this post is about prescription changes!

Quite right, it is. The point was made that Scotland has free prescriptions ( as indeed do other countries).
Let's all keep it back on topic please, myself included

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by Simondi

Quite right, it is. The point was made that Scotland has free prescriptions ( as indeed do other countries).
Let's all keep it back on topic please, myself included

And other countries don’t. It’s a fact not lost on those within the country that foots the bill for Scotland’s “freebies”.

Not surprised you two advocate - “move along, nothing to see here.”

[Simondi]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

And other countries don’t. It’s a fact not lost on those within the country that foots the bill for Scotland’s “freebies”.

Not surprised you two advocate - “move along, nothing to see here.”

What a pathetic statement but of course you have me at a disadvantage in that I cannot post like you. I have to bite my tongue and let things go whereas you are able to make accusations and jab away in the knowledge that if I post back what I think you and your pals will once more go down the road of 'Simondi is abusing his position'.

The thread was about Prescriptions and their charges. I stupidly posted that ours are free ( well paid for by our higher taxes) without thinking that some people like you would turn it into an independence debate.
I will not post further on this thread unless it is to close it because some people insist on talking politics.

Rant over, back on thread.

Isn't it wonderful that in our country medication is subsidised and we don't have to pay the full cost unlike other less civilised countries.

[steve-45]

I think the Scots have got things right, I would willingly pay a few more pounds in income tax if it gave free perscriptions to the low paid.

[mileshawk56]

Just for for the record it was the postwar labour government that introduced prescription charges and I think it was Mr Bevan A who resigned in protest. A government enquiry into the funding of the NHS had found it not possible to continue to finance it at the levels previously thought but made no decision/change to the system as it was. I speak from memory but I think that is about right. Chris S P.S I took an interest in such things in those days.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by steve-45

I think the Scots have got things right, I would willingly pay a few more pounds in income tax if it gave free perscriptions to the low paid.

If you are on a low income in England you can apply for an HC2 certificate. These HC2 Certificates are issued to people who qualify for full help with health costs through the NHS Low Income Scheme.

So in England - to a certain extent - for those that qualify as “Low Paid” - we all do pay our taxes to facilitate what you wish. But it is Means Tested and you have to qualify for it. Whereas regardless of Income - even those on £200,000pa plus and so on Scotland’s highest income tax rate, still enjoy free Prescriptions.

My point is that because Scotland receives 29% more funding than England it is “richer” than many parts of England - but only at the expense of England and therefore can afford to be more generous to its citizens by way of Free Prescriptions (and University Tuition Fees for example) regardless of the individuals income. Even those on higher rates of income get free Prescriptions.

All this whilst several Regions within England suffer significant deprivation as there funding per capita is way below Scotlands.

And yet the SNP boasts that:-

“We continue to have the fairest income tax anywhere in the U.K. [I]with 55% of taxpayers paying less in Scotland than they would elsewhere in the U.K. [/I

source- SNP.org

And the SNP goes onto state on its website:-

“Prescription charges were abolished in Scotland in 2011. South of the border, patients are still forced to pay £9 per item.”

What the SNP do not say on their website is that Free Prescriptions (and No Tuition Fees) and 55% of Scottish tax payers paying LESS tax - is all curtesy of those South of the Border that get circa 29% less funding than Scotland.

2019/20 - Scotland received £10,158 per person in U.K. Government funding.

In contrast - the West Midlands received £8,642.
Yorkshire and Humber - £8,610
The South West -£8,443
The East of England - £8,034
The South East - £7,883
East Midlands - £8,210

So yes - Scotland does have free Prescriptions (and Tuition fees) - but as the Institute for Government’s recent report highlighted - 1st March 2021 “Funding Devolution, The Barnett formula in theory and practice” points out, the funding for this is born by primarily by English Tax Payers - particularly those 55% of English tax payers that actually pay more income tax than their direct equivalent North of the Border in Scotland.

This isn’t a “pathetic” gripe as has been inferred - it is a very real economic disparity that many are now waking up to.

[Simondi]

Thread closed, you just couldn't keep politics out could you.