Criteria for full help with NHS costs

gfaulks

My son is at uni and has just applied via the HC1 form for help with NHS prescription/dental etc costs.  They've come back and said he only qualifies for partial help (not worth the paper it's written on) and I wondered if anyone knows the limits of income etc.  I'm surprised that as someone surviving on a student loan, that he doesn't qualify for full help.  Anyone know any actual figures.  I can't find the info anywhere!  Thanks

Alice_Holt

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/nhs-low-income-scheme-lis/

Entitlement broadly follows Income Support rules to decide how much, if anything, you have to pay towards your health costs. The scheme also allows council tax and housing costs to be included in the assessment. This means you can get help with your health costs even if your income is too high for Income Support.

https://www.gov.uk/income-support/income-support-rates

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/nhs-low-income-scheme-under-60s

TELLIT01

I would have thought any help would be worthwhile having, but clearly not everybody thinks that way.

gfaulks

In a way yes TELLIT01 but the partial help is nothing towards prescriptions which he currently needs monthly, maximum £54 for Opticians (where the cost of a sight test is £45) and about £100 maximum for dental (when a check up is about £26) so it won't help toward or cover any of these.

Brie

For what it's worth many opticians do the test for free if you are going to buy glasses from them.  Specsavers I believe do this.

KxMx

He can get a prepayment card for prescriptions (I did when I was a student as well). 
https://services.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/buy-prescription-prepayment-certificate/start

NHS dental care is so scarce frankly that if he has access to one he should consider himself very fortunate indeed.

comeandgo

Goodness, that dental cost is high for a check up, but he only needs this at most twice a year and surely he does not need treatment each dentil visit?  Buy a 6 month prescription pass.

peteuk

comeandgo said:

Goodness, that dental cost is high for a check up, but he only needs this at most twice a year and surely he does not need treatment each dentil visit?  Buy a 6 month prescription pass.

Some dentist do a dental subscription, you pay a set sum per month and there is 2 check ups, 10% off treatment extra....

comeandgo

peteuk said:

comeandgo said:

Goodness, that dental cost is high for a check up, but he only needs this at most twice a year and surely he does not need treatment each dentil visit?  Buy a 6 month prescription pass.

Some dentist do a dental subscription, you pay a set sum per month and there is 2 check ups, 10% off treatment extra....

But are those NH or private?  

Spoonie_Turtle

gfaulks said:

In a way yes TELLIT01 but the partial help is nothing towards prescriptions which he currently needs monthly, maximum £54 for Opticians (where the cost of a sight test is £45) and about £100 maximum for dental (when a check up is about £26) so it won't help toward or cover any of these.

Where on earth is a sight test £45?  Should be more like £20-25, and once every two years unless the optician has a clinical basis for recommending more often (in which case he may well have a condition that qualifies him for NHS help). 
Those of us who do qualify get the sight test covered then a voucher for a relatively low value depending on our prescription; my optical voucher is the lowest which combined with the cost of the test comes to the equivalent of ~£59.90 (depending on the exact cost of the sight test) - not much more than your son has been offered.  And again that's only every two years, unless there's clinical justification for anything more frequent.

A PPC would be useful if he needs more than 13 prescription items in a 12-month period, or if these are established, long-term repeat medications he should try asking his GP to prescribe more at once.  There were specific reasons for GPs cutting down the amount they prescribe in one go, which he can look up, but if he can show that those reasons don't apply to him (e.g. if doses and medications have stayed stable for a long time already) then his GP might be able to consider prescribing more at once.  Even if he can get 2 months' worth at once, that would halve his costs.  And if not, well at least he'll have tried.

The dental help would more than cover any band 2 treatment plus a further checkup in one year.  (If he goes for a checkup and is found to need treatment he should only be charged the higher of the two costs, not the checkup plus treatment on top of that.)