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NHS Low Income Scheme
The NHS Low Income Scheme is intended to reduce the cost of NHS prescription charges, NHS dentistry, sight tests, glasses and contact lenses, necessary costs of travel to receive NHS treatment, NHS wigs and fabric supports, i.e. spinal or abdominal supports or surgical brassieres supplied through a hospital. It is administered by the NHS Business Services Authority. It is not necessary to be in receipt of any benefits in order to qualify. An online application system was under trial in 2022. It is restricted to people who do not have capital or savings of over £6,000. Tax credits People entitled to most means-tested benefits do not need to use the scheme as they are exempt from these charges. People who receive working tax credit or child tax credit are automatically assessed and, if entitled, issued with an NHS Tax Credit Exemption Certificate. Tax credit beneficiaries with an income of less than £15,276 (2013 figure), people who receive working tax credit and child tax cre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prescription Charges
Charges for prescriptions for medicines and some medical appliances are payable by adults in England under the age of 60. However, people may be exempt from charges in various exemption categories. Charges were abolished by NHS Wales in 2007, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland in 2010 and by NHS Scotland in 2011. In 2010/11, in England, £450million was raised through these charges, some 0.5% of the total NHS budget. In April 2021 the charge was raised to £9.35 for up to a three-month supply of each item. In 2022, for the first time since 2010, the charge was not increased. History When the National Health Service was established in 1948 all prescriptions were free. The power to make a charge was introduced in the NHS Amendment Act 1949 under pressure from Chancellor of the Exchequer Stafford Cripps, but Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan managed to block their implementation by threatening to resign. In 1951 Cripps's successor Hugh Gaitskell and Foreign Secretary Herb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NHS Dentistry
Dentistry provided by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom is supposed to ensure that dental treatment is available to the whole population. Most dentistry is provided by private practitioners, most of whom also provide, on a commercial basis, services which the NHS does not provide, largely cosmetic. Most adult patients have to pay some NHS charges, although these are often significantly cheaper than the cost of private dentistry. The majority of people choose NHS dental care rather than private care: as of 2005, the national average proportion of people opting for private care was 23%. NHS dentistry is not always available and is not managed in the way that other NHS services are managed. Scope of the service According to NHS Choices "All the treatment that your dentist believes is necessary to achieve and maintain good oral health is available on the NHS. This means that the NHS provides any treatment you need to keep your mouth, teeth and gums healthy and free of p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eye Care In The United Kingdom
Eye care in the United Kingdom is available through the National Health Service. Eye care in the community is almost entirely provided by optometrists in private practice. Specialist NHS services are provided from a small number of eye hospitals, and their staff often run clinics in general hospitals in their region. Sight tests Free NHS sight tests in England and Northern Ireland are available to anyone who is: * aged under 16, or aged under 19 and in full-time education * aged 60 or over * registered blind or partially sighted * diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma * aged 40 or over who is the parent, brother, sister, son or daughter of a person diagnosed with glaucoma, or you has been advised by an ophthalmologist that you are at risk of glaucoma * eligible for an NHS complex lens voucher * a prisoner on leave from prison * anyone entitled under the NHS Low Income Scheme For those who have to pay the charge is £22.14. People who are unable to visit an optician can have a mobil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme
The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme was established across the United Kingdom National Health Service in 1988. Patients and their children in receipt of means tested benefits, or on a low income, could get help with the cost of travel to hospital appointments. It does not apply to primary care or community services and it does not apply to visitors. History The legal basis was the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations SI no 551 of 1988. Before 1988 there was a scheme but there was no statutory basis and the costs incurred were met centrally. From 1988 Health Authorities met the cost of expenditure. Subsequently costs were transferred to NHS trusts. New regulations were introduced by the National Health Service (Travel Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations 2003. People who qualified for Income Support or Family Credit qualified for payment of full fares. Others could apply for remission with a means test based on the Income Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hair Prosthesis
A hair prosthesis (or cranial prosthesis) is a custom-made wig specifically designed for patients who have lost their hair as a result of medical conditions or treatments, such as alopecia areata, alopecia totalis, trichotillomania, chemotherapy, or any other clinical disease or treatment resulting in hair loss Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri .... The terminology is used when applying for medical insurance or tax deduction status. Doctors have been prescribing these prostheses since the 1950s. Cranial prostheses also help to protect disease-weakened immune systems from the sun, and to regulate body temperature. Cranial hair prostheses have advanced due to technology. A cranial hair prosthesis is different from a regular wig. Cranial hair prosthesis is done in severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truss (medicine)
In medicine, a truss is a kind of surgical appliance, particularly one used for hernia patients. A truss provides support for the herniated area, using a pad and belt arrangement to hold it in the correct position, just when it is put on before moving from bed. Of historical interest, a variety of trusses are listed in the Snowden & Brother's catalog of the American Civil War era. Early versions of the hernia truss were daunting contraptions made from leather and steel with metal springs. The 19th century Eggleston's Truss from Chicago was described as follows: "Eggleston's Truss has a pad different from all others. It is cup-shaped, with a self-adjusting ball in the centre, and adapts itself to all positions of the body, while the ball in the cup presses back the intestines just as a person does with the finger. With light pressure the hernia is held securely day and night, and a radical cure is certain. It is easy, durable and cheap." Later developments resulted in the Cluthe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NHS Business Services Authority
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care which provides a number of support services to the National Health Service in National Health Service (England), England and NHS Wales, Wales. It was created on 1 October 2005 following a review by the Department of Health of its "Arm's Length body#United Kingdom, arm's length bodies". It began operating on 1 April 2006, bringing together five previously separate NHS business support organisations. The body provides services to NHS organisations, NHS contractors and patients which include: *NHS Help With Health Costs *Student Services *NHS Dental Services *Administration of the NHS Pension Scheme *Scanning Services *NHS Jobs *Electronic Staff Record *Overseas Healthcare Services *NHS Prescription Services Operations The NHSBSA manages over £35 billion of spend annually. This includes prescription and dental payments, and other transactions such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Means-tested Benefit
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do without that help. Canada In Canada, means tests are used for student finance (for post-secondary education), legal aid, and "welfare" (direct transfer payments to individuals to combat poverty). They are not generally used for primary and secondary education which are tax-funded. Means tests for public health insurance were once common but are now illegal, as the Canada Health Act of 1984 requires that all the provinces provide universal healthcare coverage to be eligible for subsidies from the federal government. Means tests are also not used for pensions and seniors' benefits, but there is a clawback of Old Age Security payments for people making over $69,562 (in 2012). The Last Post Fund uses a means test on a deceased veteran's estate and surviving widow to determine whether they are eligi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Working Tax Credit
Working Tax Credit (WTC) is a state benefit in the United Kingdom made to people who work and have a low income. It was introduced in April 2003 and is a means-tested benefit. Despite their name, tax credits are not to be confused with tax credits linked to a person's tax bill, because they are used to top-up wages. Unlike most other benefits, it is paid by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). WTC can be claimed by working individuals, childless couples and working families with dependent children. In addition, people may also be entitled to Child Tax Credit (CTC) if they are responsible for any children. WTC and CTC are assessed jointly and families remain eligible for CTC even if where no adult is working or they have too much income to receive WTC. In 2010 the coalition government announced that the Working Tax Credit would, by 2017, be integrated into and replaced by the new Universal Credit. However implementation of this has been repeatedly delayed and will not be finished unt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Child Tax Credit
A child tax credit (CTC) is a tax credit for parents with dependent children given by various countries. The credit is often linked to the number of dependent children a taxpayer has and sometimes the taxpayer's income level. For example, in the United States, only families making less than $400,000 per year may claim the full CTC. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, the tax credit is only available for families making less than £42,000 per year. Germany Germany has a programme called the which, despite technically being a tax exemption and not a tax credit, functions similarly. The child allowance is an allowance in German tax law, in which a certain amount of money is tax-free in the taxation of parents. In the income tax fee paid, child benefit and tax savings through the child tax credit are compared against each other, and the parents pay whichever results in the lesser amount of tax. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a family with children and an income below about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, and Income Support; Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit; and Housing Benefit. An award of UC is made up of different elements, which become payable to the claimant if relevant criteria apply: a standard allowance for singles or couples, child elements and disabled child elements for children in the household, housing cost element, childcare costs element, as well as elements for being a carer or having an illness or disability and therefore having limited capability to work. The new policy was announced in 2010 at the Conservative Party annual conference by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, who said it would make the social security system fairer to claimants and taxpayers. At the same venue the Welfare R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Income Support
Income Support is an income-related benefit in the United Kingdom for some people who are on a low income, but have a reason for not actively seeking work. Claimants of Income Support may be entitled to certain other benefits, for example, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit, Carer's Allowance, Child Tax Credit and help with health costs. A person with capital over £16,000 cannot get Income Support, and savings over £6,000 affect how much Income Support can be received. Claimants must be between 16 and Pension Credit age, work fewer than 16 hours a week, and have a reason why they are not actively seeking work (caring for a child under 5 years old or someone who receives a specified disability benefit). Lone parents Claimants can receive income support if they are a lone parent and responsible for a child under five who is a member of their household. A claimant is considered responsible for a child in any week if receiving child benefit for the child. Howeve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
