(File image) An elderly person with a prescription (Image: Getty )
Labour have failed to rule out scrapping free prescriptions for the over-60s in another hammer blow for the nation's elderly.
Many older people already feel let down by the Sir Keir Starmer's Government, after winter fuel payments were axed leaving millions at risk from the freezing weather gripping the country.
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And then in December ministers back-tracked on promised compensation for so-called WASPi pensioners, around 3.6 million women born between 1950 and 1960 who suffered financially when the state pension age was raised from 60 to 66.
Now it's feared older people could be in the firing line again as Labour are refusing to rule out a change to the age free prescriptions can be accessed. Currently, all over-60s in England are exempt from having to pay the ￡9.90 charge for each item dispensed at a pharmacy.
If gratis prescriptions were scrapped it's estimated on average over-60s could be paying up to ￡100 a year on medication. The Telegraph reports increasing the threshold to match the pension age could potentially raise more than ￡1billion extra for the NHS over five years, and the Prime Minister has so far failed to rule out a change.
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Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, told the Daily Express: "Scrapping this entitlement might appear at first glance to save the Treasury some money, but doctors are clear that it would be at the cost of worsening health in this age group - which is comprised of people who are still of working age, if fit and well enough to be in a job.
READ MORE... NHS repeat prescriptions warning issued to every patient as deadline days away
A pharmacist working on some medication (Image: Getty )
"In this sense it would be a false economy, as well as being wildly unpopular with older people themselves, and strongly opposed by clinicians - as a previous Government discovered when they considered making a change of this kind a couple of years ago.
"Prescriptions have been free for people aged between 60 and 66 for about the last twenty five years, and there's no doubt they make it much more likely that people in this age group actually take the medicines they are prescribed.
"This is all the more important when you consider that this is the time of life at which many of us are diagnosed as having key risk factors like high cholesterol and blood pressure - things can be controlled through medication but which if left unaddressed greatly increase the chances of a heart attack or stroke."
Labour health minister Karin Smith has previously said in the Commons there are "no current plans to review list of prescription charge exemptions" when challenged by former Labour MP Ian Byrne, who is now an independent.
However, the Government itself has not expressly ruled out making the plans in the future, and Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for health, told the Telegraph: “It’s deeply concerning that the Government will not rule out removing free prescriptions for the over-60s.
“Pensioners can’t afford yet another blow after being betrayed by the Conservative Party and being hit again by the Labour Government this year. The Government must set pensioners’ minds at rest and commit to retaining the free prescription policy.”
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(File image) A woman checks over her medication (Image: Getty )
In 2021 the Conservatives mooted bringing the prescriptions and pensions ages in line, but the idea was rejected following a backlash from the public.
An impact assessment estimated the change would raise ￡225 million a year for the NHS, or more than ￡2 billion over a decade for the sector which swallows up around ￡190 billion of the national annual budget.
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Writing on X after discussing the issue on GB News, comedian and presenter Leo Kearse joked: "Labour is considering scrapping free prescriptions for over-60s.
"Meanwhile, they lavish billions on illegal migrants. A cynic would say they're killing off right-wing voters and rewarding Labour voters."