OT - of interest to senior members

[David WE Roberts]

Petition against the removal of additional tax allowances for pensioners.

Vote early, vote often :-)

Cheers

Daver R

[Fredxx]

Why do you support ageist policies?

Perhaps a petition for the removal of any age related benefits and allowances is called for.

[Man at B&Q]

Why would I want to do that?

It will do absolutely nothing to help those in real need.

All it will do is give more to those who already have enough to benefit from said tax allowances.

MBQ

[Tim Streater]

I've no idea what these are.

[Nightjar]

If you are canvassing for votes against the removal of additional tax allowances, it might be a good idea to explain why you think that the increase in personal allowances for those over 65 does not adequately compensate for them.

Colin Bignell

[GB]

How much do people need to get in order to benefit from the Age Allowance?

[dennis]

Why not sign

instead?

[GB]

Good idea. I have done that.

[dennis]

8<

Here's one for harry to sign.

[Roger Mills]

I agree. I suppose some would argue that this doesn't maintain the differential between pensioners and non-pensioners. But I'm not sure exactly what the case for a differential is.

Personally, I'd rather have it as an increased personal allowance for everyone. That way, it doesn't get clawed back when my total pension income exceeds a certain threshold.

I would also support means testing things like bus passes and winter fuel allowance. Not so sure about prescriptions and eye test. Older people tend to have a greater need for these. Free dental treatment would be good, too.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Useless blatherings. Us over 60s know we will have our pensions removed, our houses stolen by mansion taxes, our savings devalued and used to employ third world carers to not look after us before being put on a care pathway and finally turned into SagaBurgers for young labour votahs.

The only question is how many of the idle workshy bastards we can take with us.

My euthanasia shall not go unaccompanied!

Pass the Ammonium Nitrate Jeeves. I have one final message to deliver to the House. While the balance of my mind is sufficiently disturbed by the last of the Clery '46....

[Nightjar]

I suspect that means testing bus passes would probably cost more than it saves. They are a bit of a novelty when you first get them, after which the disadvantages of using public transport outweigh the benefits of using it for free, so it is probable that only those who really need them actually use them to any extent. I wouldn't miss the winter fuel allowance, but again, I'm not sure that a lot of the claimed savings from means testing it would not just go into administering the scheme.

Prescriptions might as well be free for everybody; only 10% of people actually pay for them and I rather doubt that covers the administrative costs of collecting the fees and checking that people claiming exemption are actually entitled to it.

Eye tests should not only be free but for anybody over 60 holding a driving licence compulsory. Many people who have never needed glasses before can go for years without realising that their eyesight is deteriorating as they age.

Colin Bignell

[Tim Streater]

Christ that's really taking the piss. But yes, harry should sign it.

[RJH]

Govt claims 88% don't pay - I would question that. And anecdotally at least people don't use prescription medicine because of the cost.

It's tricky - overall I don't think means testing is a good idea, for reasons ranging from admin cost to stigma. I'd like to think people who don't need or use a benefit hand it back, but then I like to think a lot of things ;-)

Rob

[polygonum]

The saga of prescription charges goes on!

If you are even slightly financially OK but medically not OK, and subject to NHS prescription charges, it is likely worth capping your outgoings by getting a Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) at £104 a year. (Do government "don't pay" figures include PPC purchasers? After all, they do not pay prescription by prescription.)

I take one medicine only and the NHS "cost" of that medicine is marginally over £12 a year (one lot month). And this seems to correlate with costs in other countries such as Spain, I am told, where it is an over-the-counter medicine.

However, I and everyone else on this medicine qualify for a Medical Exemption Certificate (Medex), so actually pay nothing. (And have the benefit of not then paying for any other prescriptions.)

If I had to pay the full prescription charge of £7.65 twelve times a year, I would be being ripped off by the system. (That is, being charged almost £80 more than the NHS is charged for the medicine.)

Because of the system we have, I do not have the option of buying my own as the charges for doing so are even more. Private prescriptions alone are often expensive and yet a prescription is mandatory. And there is no possibility of buying at anything like the NHS or Spanish prices. (I base this on having seen the prices some people have been charged for having private prescriptions filled for this medicine - though maybe they did not shop around?)

It could actually be less expensive to purchase an equivalent from abroad than to pay UK prescription charges. Without a prescription. Unfortunately, most internet medicine suppliers relate their prices to USA domestic prices. And this medicine is anomalously expensive in the USA (almost certainly branding issues, etc.). But if I knew someone willing in any of several European countries, they could pop it in an envelope for me and I would pay much less than NHS prescription charges.

Considering the importance of some medicines, the idea that people have to question which one(s) they might be able to afford this week or month, even when the NHS costs are peanuts, is crazy and unfair.

[Nightjar]

...

A 2008 survey gave the average at the 90% I quoted. However, for some groups, such as mental health patients, it is as low as 81%.

I would have thought that the majority of people for whom that would be a problem should qualify for free prescriptions.

I don't think there is any mechanism for me to hand back the winter fuel allowance. It is easier to give the same amount to charity.

Colin Bignell

[polygonum]

Majority maybe, but IIRC, Jobseekers flat rate does not, but income-related does - and there are many cracks in the systems.

[Nightjar]

It is whether you pay at all, not whether you pay prescription by prescription.

Having to get a prescription every month is a NICE recommendation, to reduce the cost to the NHS from medicine supplied to people who die before using it all. Some GPs will still give a three month prescription.

Colin Bignell

[Chris J Dixon]

Though I have benefited, I don't think the original decision to introduce these at 60 for everybody, instead of at state pension age, was right.

Chris

[Nightjar]

My point is that there is probably not a huge number of people waiting in the wings who would suddenly start to get prescriptions were they to be made free.

Colin Bignell