Do students pay for prescriptions?

dag_2

I applied for help with health costs last year. On their assessment my student loan is included in my weekly income - since when is a loan classed as income - i've gotta pay it back!!!!

Like student100 says, when you pay the loan back, your repayment is not counted as part of your income.

Snag is - when you are paying your loan back, chances are your income will be too high to qualify for free NHS prescriptions anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the part of your rent or mortgage interest which isn't covered by housing benefit counted out of your income for NHS prescription purposes? I think that if your student loan plus grant plus bursary minus rent is less than what you'd get on income support if you weren't a student (and for many students who aren't living with their parents, it will be less), then you should get full exemption from prescription charges.

This does not constitute legal advice.

dave2986

I phoned them up today about the amounts they have allocated me, and they said if I reapply in September when I'm back in student accommodation and paying rent I will get full help. I didn't get any help over the summer when I applied as it was based on me not paying rent at home

The systems seems to be set up to discourage people from doing it and their seems to be quite a few different stories, typical of this type of system I think

the woman said the loan is classes as income, they seem to see it as money in your bank end of, I may write to my MP, as I really do hate this type of high administration, high loophole system