Universal free prescriptions are a gimmick. The NHS budget is not infinite - every penny that the Senedd chooses to spend on free prescriptions for middle class people who could already afford to pay for them is money that is not being spent on GP surgeries and cancer treatments and hip replacements.
It is almost indefensible to fritter money away on middle class gimmicks when tens of thousands of Welsh patients have to wait for >2 years for
an operation. England, which does not spend its finite NHS budget on universal free prescriptions, does not have the same problem.
We already see many people who are on low income. But not entitled to benifits. Forced to make a choice over filling rx.
And that is the issue. Have the means is a very expensive system to manage. Any system that rellies that way costs more to run then the current cost.
Yet the whole people who have means to pay should. Is a gimmick. Designed to invoke a fair distribution idea. The point is no one pays rx costs. The difference between the rx charge and the cost of providing meds is huge. It in no way even covers the distribution cost.
Its only value is to make some feel that rich folk don’t get free goods. The cost of the meds still far out weighs what they pay. And it hits poor folks way harder then anyone rich.
@Jon-H558 They should be free. They are here in Wales.
Universal free prescriptions are a gimmick. The NHS budget is not infinite - every penny that the Senedd chooses to spend on free prescriptions for middle class people who could already afford to pay for them is money that is not being spent on GP surgeries and cancer treatments and hip replacements.
It is almost indefensible to fritter money away on middle class gimmicks when tens of thousands of Welsh patients have to wait for >2 years for
an operation. England, which does not spend its finite NHS budget on universal free prescriptions, does not have the same problem.
Universal free rx is in no way a gimmick.
We already see many people who are on low income. But not entitled to benifits. Forced to make a choice over filling rx.
And that is the issue. Have the means is a very expensive system to manage. Any system that rellies that way costs more to run then the current cost.
Yet the whole people who have means to pay should. Is a gimmick. Designed to invoke a fair distribution idea. The point is no one pays rx costs. The difference between the rx charge and the cost of providing meds is huge. It in no way even covers the distribution cost.
Its only value is to make some feel that rich folk don’t get free goods. The cost of the meds still far out weighs what they pay. And it hits poor folks way harder then anyone rich.