The debate will take place on Monday (March 6) and comes after the petition garnered more than 46,000 signatures, the parliamentary petitions committee said yesterday (March 1).
Normally, petitions submitted to parliament are considered for debate once they reach 100,000 signatures.
The petition, which closed for signatures on February 18, urged the government to "protect free NHS prescriptions for over 60s”.
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It said that the government should “continue to give free NHS prescriptions to over 60s”, despite a consultation on “aligning the upper age exemption for NHS prescription charges with the state pension age” – which currently stands at 66.
This move "would render many people in their 60s ineligible”, with this age group both “more susceptible to health issues” and having “less money available to pay large sums for repeated prescriptions”, it added.
Affordability concerns
The petitions committee also ran an online survey asking petitioners for their views on the government’s proposal to align the age of entitlement to free prescriptions with the state pension age of 66, it said.
It collected 1,863 responses, including 1,163 from people aged 60-65 who “would have to start paying for prescriptions if the age of entitlement to free prescriptions was increased to 66”, it added.
Many were concerned about being able to afford prescriptions – with 88% saying they were ‘moderately’ or ‘extremely’ concerned – it found.
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The majority also said their spending in other areas would be impacted if they had to pay for prescriptions, with 73% saying there would be a ‘significant’ or ‘moderate’ effect on their food spending, and 67% saying there would be a ‘significant’ or ‘moderate’ effect on their food spending.
And 29% said they would stop collecting some of their prescribed medication or medical appliances, such as inhalers, while 22% said they’d take less than their prescribed amount of medication.
Government undecided
In a response to the petition in January, the government said that it has “not yet taken a decision” on the reform and “continues to weigh up the arguments”.
But it also stressed its “commitment to keeping the NHS sustainable whilst protecting the most vulnerable”.
The government added that it had not yet made a decision on its consultation to align the upper exemption age from prescription charges with the state pension age either, which itself received more than 117,000 responses.
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The health secretary “is considering the results carefully and an announcement setting out the government’s response and course of action will be made in due course”, it said.
Both the petition and consultation responses are “testament to the strength of feeling” over the issue, it added.
No vote
Announcing the upcoming debate, the government said that it will “send a minister to respond” to the petition but that the debate will not end in a vote to implement the petition’s request.
This means that MPs taking part “will not vote to decide on increasing the state pension or reducing the retirement age at the end of the debate”, it added.
Instead, petitions debates “allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions and put their concerns to government ministers”, it said.
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Currently, people receive free prescriptions after turning 60 in England and this has not changed since 1974 for women and 1995 for men, the government said.
The state pension age in England currently stands at 66 but is planned to increase further to 68 in future years, it added.
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Meanwhile, around 60% of 60-65s “were still economically active and potentially able to meet the cost of their prescriptions” in 2019/20 – at the same time that ageing populations mean there are more people claiming free prescriptions, it said.
According to current projections, there will be a further 8.6 million projected UK residents aged 65 years and over by 2066, which will represent 26% of the total population, it added.