List The Benefits You Receive. Can the state afford them?

ninky_2

the other point with private healthcare....just look at the states!

many there have private healthcare but their insurers start to refuse cover once they develop certain conditions (particularly chronic), or the premiums are put so high they are totally unaffordable. it's fairly easy for healthy fit young people to get health insurance. once you actually start needing it, it is a different matter. and i assume those that go private on here are talking about private healthcare plans rather than just paying for any and all treatment out of their pockets individually.

lostinrates

ninky wrote: »

and i assume those that go private on here are talking about private healthcare plans rather than just paying for any and all treatment out of their pockets individually.

we have insurance through dh's work..as I said...its pretty useless to me because of my ''previous'', but no, my private health was funded by me, my own money and a very generous private sponsor.

tomstickland

As far as I'm aware I receive no benefits at all. I pay tax, visit a doctor about once every 18 months, dental treatment is private. So I cost next to nothing.

I don't have any cuts to fear.

lostinrates

Pete111 wrote: »

I think it's also important to reiterate my view that provision of roads is a public 'service' not an individual 'benefit'

I agree, semantically. But to put this into context of the uproar of the last few days its a communally paid for thing we use to varying degrees, much like we historically viewed child benefit.

elaina79

Well I use the NHS quite a bit, with my appointments and also my prescriptions. It also looks like I will be using the NHS for the rest of my life. I just hope the tories don't stuff it up like they did the last time they were in government.

Percy1983

I will say I am lucky enough to have an NHS dentist, it does still cost me soemthing but nothing like a private one, which is lucky as I have a few problems and would be bankrupt by now on private.

LydiaJ

SingleSue wrote: »

I am too ashamed to put up what we get, none of it is earnt and it is all from tax payers.

And I hate it.

I had pride once, paid my dues (at the high rate), had private health insurance, optical plans, dental plans etc...now I have no pride and have to rely on tax payers.

Best laid plans (and all that gibberish) can and do go wrong, sometimes in a spectacular way.

Sue,

I thanked this post as an expression of support for you, but what I really want to say to it is

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

The only reason you are not in paid employment is because you are working excessively long hours providing the extremely specialised care that your sons need. The whole point of the welfare state is to help people like you.

You are making a monumental sacrifice of the chance for you to have what most people consider to be a normal life - with the freedom to go places and do things instead of being almost completely tied to the house because the boys need to be looked after and it doesn't work if anyone else tries to look after them

You do what you do because you love your sons, but you know very well that nobody would do what you do for money, unless it was an enormous amount of money. How enormous do you think? How much would it cost for social services to plug the gaps if you just went out to work, and had a social life in the evenings, and professionals had to be paid to care for your special boys? How much would there be in follow-on costs? If you had a "normal" working and social life instead of pouring your all into your boys, your middle and youngest sons would be much less able to cope with school or life in general, so they'd cause problems of one kind or another. How much would it cost to deal with all those problems?

Add up all those costs and consider how much it would cost the state if you weren't doing what we all admire you so much for doing. Now, from that astronomical sum, subtract the pitiful amount you get in benefits. What remains is the amount that YOU are putting into the system.

Hold your head up Sue. You are one of the biggest contributors to this country that it has been my privilege to know. You have no reason to be ashamed.

ETA For any readers who don't know what Sue does, here's a flavour of it in what she's posted today:

SingleSue wrote: »

I think I need more professional help as they are suggesting most of the things I already do and have done since his aggression last reached a peak. My problem is that back then, I was still able to just about restrain him but he is now a similar height to me, weighs more than me, is way stronger than he was (and he had super human strength when he was a wee tot at primary school) and I am now weakened by arthritis.

I'm just not sure who to contact as we have had no contact with specialists for him for quite some time in regards of his Aspergers...we have been pretty much left to get on with it ourselves.

I know boys especially with Aspergers tend to have more problems in their teenage years because of the confusion with all the hormones running riot (more so than a normal teenage boy) but it is how to deal with it - the removal of using a laptop unless for homework, his pocket money, television rights etc (he cannot be grounded as he has no social life - something else which is causing problems) have no effect on him at all.

I really do fear for his future, more so than the supposedly more affected younger son as he is unable to decide for himself when to wash, bath, clean teeth, change clothes etc, he can't time keep, he doesn't want to socialise, has extremely poor short term memory and at the moment, is not willing to use his aids for memory (endless lists, a memory book, reminders etc). I am trying to teach him to be independent (as he wants to go to university) but he is battling against it whilst also moaning that I will not let him be independent (yeah I couldn't work that one out either).

Unfortunately, if I just left him to get on with it, he would end up festering in clothes that have not been changed, skin that has not been washed and wandering off with any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry who asked if he wanted to see their puppy (he has absolutely no street smarts and just thinks everyone wants to be his friend without seeing any malice in them).

The trigger for today? He couldn't put his clothes on in the order he wanted to, so he punched his elder brother (who just happened to be closest) in the back and tried to whack him with a skateboard.

ninky_2

tomstickland wrote: »

As far as I'm aware I receive no benefits at all. I pay tax, visit a doctor about once every 18 months, dental treatment is private. So I cost next to nothing.

I don't have any cuts to fear.

does none of your economic wellbeing rely on public spending though? i mean many businesses have customers who are paid from the public purse one way or another - so reduce that money / remove it from the economy and the knock on effects will impact all of us.

no man is an economic island.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

LydiaJ wrote: »

Sue,

The only reason you are not in paid employment is because you are working excessively long hours providing the extremely specialised care that your sons need. The whole point of the welfare state is to help people like you.

.

Well said.....

Arcaine

Myself, Mrs Arc and our Son in our house

So,

Tax Credits due to our Son. Although that has been cut by £40 a month now.
Child Benefit, I am a 40% tax earner, wife works part time so this is also being cut by £80 a month. ( well in 2013 so I am not going to worry just yet)
This is the first year I have slipped into the 40% bracket, although I pay my pension and get Child Vouchers through salary sacrifice. I am wondering if upping my pension contributions to make my salary slip below the 40% threshold would mean keeping child benefit.

I have had a Uni education back in the day of no tuition fees and there were still those things called grants.

In terms of NHS our son was born with a Kidney problem which culminated in an operation just after his 1st birthday. I imagine with all the scans, tests, appointments etc this was a good sum of money. All sorted now though with hopefully no long term problems or expense for the NHS. Since then we are all covered by my works private medical cover. He is also in his pre-school year so 3 hours a day is being covered by the state.

My Wife and I have never relyed on hand outs and have tried to make sure that our salarys cover our needs and anything from the state is gravy. While losing £120 a month is going to be a pain it will mean that we just dont save as much. I just hope that they dont want too much more from our family, we have worked hard to get where we are and I want to make sure we can still save to give a) our Son a saving pot that will cover a Uni education if he decides to go and b) a pension for us.