Time to ease prescription costs for asthma victims

Time to ease prescription costs for asthma victims – The Yorkshire Post says

ASTHMA is an all-too-common illness which tragically frequently costs lives, as highlighted yet again this week by the new inquest ordered into the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah in 2013 after new evidence came to light her fatal attack may have been linked to air pollution near her home in London.

Many people with asthma are struggling to pay for inhalers, a charity has suggested.

While children with asthma get their prescriptions for free, Ella’s case and many others like her highlight just how alarming it is that around one million asthma sufferers in this country are cutting back on their use of their vital medication because they are struggling to afford to pay for it.

According to research from charity Asthma UK, tens of thousands of asthma sufferers – many of whom have to use multiple inhalers to control their condition – are forced into cutting back on buying food or paying bills to meet the costs of getting their prescriptions.

Even for those with milder forms of asthma that do not risk their lives, attacks can be debilitating, frightening and have a profound impact on their health and wellbeing. Preventing the condition should not come down to financial considerations.

Around 2.3 million people with asthma pay for their prescriptions in England – but in contrast, charges have been scrapped in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. While there is a universal appreciation that the NHS does not have limitless funding, the case appears to be clear that people with asthma deserve to be treated along the same lines as people with conditions like diabetes and epilepsy who are already entitled to medical exemption certificates to avoid the cost.