lynnxa

thank you.............

Domino

¿Dónde estoy?

lynnxa

that's not a post

britishbull

The people who do pay in the UK often end paying more than the drug actually cost so there are quite a lot of people buying them from Indian and the like via the web and saving money. Why should a rich pensioner be free and a lowly paid youth have to pay silly money for cheap drugs? End up with hugely complex tax and benefit systems trying to balance things out and they only make them worse. Selling most drugs without a prescription would probably be better, as they do in most of Asia. Said most not all, BTW.

Rotor

Because the pensioner may well have paid a shed load of NI & income tax.

jackytoo

The new system has had a blip this morning...wonder what the queues were like!

http://www.diariosur.es/20120702/loc...207021316.html

Domino

and when a lowly paid youth the pensioner had to pay the full price

agoreira

Perhaps you can explain who these unfortunates are that are paying silly money for drugs. As I said, 88% are exempt anyway, and if you are unlucky enough to have to buy expensive drugs, a PPC (prescription prepayment) costs £104 and that is the most you can pay a year. £2 a week, silly money? I don't think you really know what you are talking about. Currently in UK there has been talk of a shortage of certain drugs because the companies are selling them abroad, it's more profitable. Perhaps the new charges in Spain will go some way to paying off the huge debt that Spain owes the drug companies and the farmacias.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/35...n-medicine.htm

steviedeluxe

Seems a very reasonable figure. Wouldn't you be looking at £5-7 in the UK depending on medicine? (I'm probably basing this on the last meds I bought, so could be wide of the mark)

jackytoo

Yes but that's until today isn't it

Lynn R

I know some drugs can be very expensive, but I do think those people who have to pay prescription charges in the UK (as I always did) are often being ripped off. For instance, when I was away in Bilbao a couple of weeks ago I developed conjunctivitis and went into the nearest farmacia to ask for something to treat it. The pharmacist gave me some anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory drops to use, I paid the full price of 3.20€. Leaving aside the fact that I would have had to visit the GP to get a prescription in the UK, that would have cost me nearly £8 or whatever the price of a single item prescription is now. If the cost of what you are prescribed is actually less than the prescription charge, shouldn't pharmacists just ask you to pay the actual cost?

jackytoo

They do at Boots but I suppose it varies from place to place.

Fred James

If Dom has been paying 80c for a scrip he must not have reached retirement age and is paying 40% of the cost.

If that is the case then nothing will change today.

Unless of course he is earning €100k+

pwwm

[QUOTE=lynnxa;10150146]you pay a % of the cost/price of the meds - I'm sure it was discussed before

Yes I know it has been discussed before but thought it might be helpful for some to know it has started rather than just talked about, you would be surprised, or not, how many didnt know it was even coming into operation.

Domino

Thats how I read it Fred, and of course I am going to tell everyone what I am earning - which is never enough



if you go to a pharmacist any/all treatment you receive isnt recorded on your medical records.
it has been said that the £8 or whatever is charged to include an element for the doctor's time and writing out the prescription. A hidden subsidy for the NHS.
the last time I went i arrived 10mins early, got in to see the doctor 20mins after my appointment - which was at 0920,

here in Spain the doctor comes out with a clipboard and calls people in strictly in accordance with their time on the electronic booking system. Those who have walked in on the offchance have to wait.