Martin Lewis is urging people to check if they have been overpaying for something that could be free, warning that 100,000 could be affected. According to the finance expert, a large proportion of the population is wrongly paying for medical prescriptions.
In the latest newsletter from his site Money Saving Expert he revealed that “many people” pay for prescriptions in England when they don’t need to. “Are you one of 100,000s overpaying?” he said.
This could be because you are either entitled to free prescriptions or they could be cheaper just to buy over the counter. He added: “Even if you need to pay, as you get a lot of prescriptions, you’ll find prepay prescription certificates can slash the cost, plus you may find it cheaper to buy over the counter than to use your prescription for some medications.”
The current NHS prescription charge is £9.90 per item. However, some items are always free, including contraception and medicines prescribed for hospital inpatients.
Some people are also exempt from paying for prescriptions. These include if:
- You are under 16 or over 60
- You are between 16-18 and in full-time education
- You have a certain medication condition – You can get your medical exemption certificate from your GP, and you and your GP must fill out the form
- You are pregnant or have recently had a baby – You’ll need to seek out a form from your GP, midwife, or doctor to get a maternity exemption certificate
- You have a war pension exemption certificate – If you have served in the armed forces and are under the age of 60, you can get a war pension exemption certificate, which allows you to get prescriptions without the charges
- You are on low income – depending on your income and overall circumstances, you may be entitled to fully free NHS prescriptions or partial coverage.
Prescription prepayment certificate
If you know you’ll have to pay for a lot of NHS prescriptions, it may be cheaper to buy a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC). A PPC covers all your NHS prescriptions, including NHS dental prescriptions, no matter how many items you need.
There are three PPC options:
- A 3-month PPC costs £32.05 and will save you money if you need more than three prescribed items in three months
- A 12-month PPC costs £114.50 and will save you money if you need more than 11 prescribed items in a year
- A hormone replacement therapy (HRT) PPC costs £19.80 and will save you money if you need more than two prescribed qualifying HRT items in a year.
For more information visit nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions.
