Angry about NHS penalty charges

jammerr

I have to say Mark, it's not clear to me. I like to think I'm reasonably on the ball and pretty good at the whole life admin side. To me ESA is ESA. I didn't even know there were two types of ESA, I thought 'income based ESA' *was* ESA! ie not getting any income!! :rotfl:

If she was working and getting some kinda of ESA I might have twigged and thought ... hang on maybe we need to take a second look.

And why would be entitled to free medication if you have income-based ESA? What is the difference between the two out of curiosity.

I agree, a quick ring (HA! never quick!) would have been good but it would be nice if they say - this is your benefit, you get this per week - you are entitled to THIS and NOT this.

I suppose we have different definitions of clear. Anyway, we got burnt, lesson learnt

[Deleted User]

I wouldn’t personally be signing and agreeing to a statement that I wasn’t 100% sure of - that’s just me though.

Muttleythefrog

MarkN88 wrote: »

The form is clear though, it says income based ESA and If you don't know which ESA you receive then you should check before committing to the signature to the form because you have therefore supplied false information, and even if you don't have a letter you can ring the DWP for clarification.

Well the problem was they didn't know there was any other type. It was obvious to me when I claimed that there was because the dodgy DWP letter stated I got both...lol... 'we call this income related and contribution based ESA' which was also probably technically untrue and led to my query at the time.

Different scenario... so no use to the case here.. but to highlight these things are not often straightforward. My wife's been paying for subscriptions (and other things) because the Home Office told her she needed to and she's an immigrant. I contact the NHSBSA Help with healthcare costs division (which I used to work for!) and they insisted she should not pay and she should tick the income related ESA category as I get ESA and she is my partner. I argued she isn't named on my ESA claim because of her immigration status... and they decided she still should tick the ESA box and not pay. I further argued with them and then they changed their minds and awarded her an HC2 certificate. I ended up getting back 3 years of dental fees we paid for her due to being incorrectly advised by a government department that we trusted as authoritative for such information.

[Deleted User]

The thing is though if I didn't know what Income Based ESA meant on the back of a prescription which you are signing to declare you are in receipt of, then I would not sign and say I would be popping back until I contacted the DWP to confirm if Income Based was what I was receiving, I wouldn't just assume and sign it anyway.

That's just the way I am though, over think and worry and therefore like to check first.

All I'm saying is, any doubts, should be checked because you signing and then saying "oh I didn't know! isn't really acceptable.

TELLIT01

I freely admit that before I worked for DWP I wouldn't have had a clue about the different types of benefit either. On the occasions when I claimed JSA it never occurred to me that I might be able to get free anything because of it. Fortunate on my part as I would have been on Conts Based benefits.
None of which will carry any weight if the OP tries to argue to point as they have said that the letter they received did stated it was ESA Conts, even if the OP didn't have a scoobie what that meant.
Don't get me started on the injustice of people who have worked, and now find themselves out of a job for whatever reason, not being able to get free prescriptions etc, whilst the bone idle wasters who glory in never working, get everything on a plate.
Let me emphasise that I am not suggesting for one moment that everybody who qualifies for free prescriptions etc falls into that category.

Mojisola

jammerr wrote: »

And why would be entitled to free medication if you have income-based ESA? What is the difference between the two out of curiosity.

Caz3121 wrote: »

With contribution based benefits you can have £100k in the bank and a partner earning £100k+ salary so it is not an automatic right to free prescriptions

Income related would mean no savings over £16k and a partner not working 24 hours per week or more

As above, you can be well off and still receive CB ESA so there would be no need to be given free prescriptions.

I do understand your situation because the benefit system isn't easy if you're not used to it but the DWP isn't known for being sympathetic to claimants who get things wrong.

Caz3121

jammerr wrote: »

And why would be entitled to free medication if you have income-based ESA? What is the difference between the two out of curiosity.

Caz3121 wrote: »

With contribution based benefits you can have £100k in the bank and a partner earning £100k+ salary so it is not an automatic right to free prescriptions
Income related would mean no savings over £16k and a partner not working 24 hours per week or more

from post 3

jammerr

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Don't get me started on the injustice of people who have worked, and now find themselves out of a job for whatever reason, not being able to get free prescriptions etc, whilst the bone idle wasters who glory in never working, get everything on a plate.
Let me emphasise that I am not suggesting for one moment that everybody who qualifies for free prescriptions etc falls into that category.

I think that what is most galling for us. We have shared about a year on benefits combined in our working lives, we make a mistake and we're punished.. but others get free dental, prescriptions etc that's the system for you I suppose.

The law doesn't discriminate so I'll update whether we get any sympathy from NHS but I don't hold out hope.

[Deleted User]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48842928

Interesting read.

The new stage might help a lot of people.

poppy12345

jammerr wrote: »

I think that what is most galling for us. We have shared about a year on benefits combined in our working lives, we make a mistake and we're punished.. but others get free dental, prescriptions etc that's the system for you I suppose.

As has been advised. Contributions based benefits doesn't entitle you to automatically claim free prescriptions. A person claiming CB benefits can have 1 million pounds in the bank and still be entitled to claim the benefit.



They could also have a partner that earns £200,000 a year but they're still entitled to claim CB benefits, if they've paid enough NI Contributions in the previous 2 tax years.


A person claiming Income Related benefits means they have very low income so they're entitled to the free prescriptions.