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Why Do I Get Free Prescriptions on Levothyroxine?

Originally published on 16th April 2020
Last updated on 2nd August 2024

For those of us living in the UK, NHS prescriptions are free to those in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but not in England. 

However, there are certain people in England who can access free NHS prescriptions if they fit certain criteria such as having hypothyroidism and being on thyroid hormone replacement medication e.g. Levothyroxine.

NHS Medical Exemption Certificate

NHS Medical Exemption Certificate

Why Do We Get Free Prescriptions?

From digging around the internet, researching files and documents and asking my NHS GP and pharmacist, there doesn’t appear to be one reason.

One of my readers got in touch with me to say that although she self-sources her own Natural Desiccated Thyroid medication, she is still allowed her entitlement to free prescriptions. And I personally have my NDT medication (Armour Thyroid) privately prescribed, but am still entitled to my NHS Medical Exemption Certificate too. So it’s possibly not the type of medication that entitles you, but the condition of hypothyroidism itself.

The document ‘Prescription Charges Review Implementing Exemption from Prescription Charges for People with Long Term Conditions’ was some useful reading. [1]

Medication For Life 

The recurring reason I found on the internet is that because it is well-recognised that if you have hypothyroidism, you’ll most likely be taking thyroid medication for life, and that it’s also well-recognised that people often develop other conditions when they have hypothyroidism, the free prescriptions help with this burden.

And this actually frustrates me a little bit.

When you have hypothyroidism and develop other health conditions, symptoms or problems, it often comes from being non-optimally treated, not from the hypothyroidism itself. So if the thyroid condition is properly treated and managed, we shouldn’t need a boat load of other medications.

It says in the document ‘Prescription Charges Review Implementing Exemption from Prescription Charges for People with Long Term Conditions’:

“As now, exemption should be for the person rather than restricted to the treatment of the condition for which he/she is exempt. Currently, patients who are exempt from prescriptions on medical grounds, receive all of their prescriptions free and not just the drugs that relate to the condition for which they are exempt. This is often regarded as unfair. However, it is frequently difficult to determine whether the patient’s current need for treatment is related or not to the index condition, or might exacerbate it. In the interests of practicality, exemption from charges on medical grounds should continue to relate to the person rather than the condition.” [1]

So it’s essentially saying that because hypothyroidism is often a lifelong condition, which can be linked to others, we get all medications for free for ease of not being completely sure which other conditions can be related back to it.

The issue of people on lifelong medication not being able to afford it has been in the media several times, so this does sound helpful.

But take for instance all the extra conditions/symptoms I developed while on the wrong medication for my hypothyroidism:

While it was great that I got the medication for all of the above ‘separate’ conditions for free, I’d have preferred for them to just get my thyroid medication right in the first place, and then I wouldn’t have needed all of them. And it would have also saved the NHS more money… Instead of covering up more and more problems and just treating multiplying issues. The initial cause, low thyroid hormone levels, should have been addressed from the beginning. But the NHS  and other conventional medicine services don’t tend to focus on prevention. 

Life Threatening 

Another possibility for why thyroid medication prescriptions are free, is that because your body should produce thyroid hormone naturally in order to live, but doesn’t do so adequately when you have hypothyroidism, it is life threatening in this sense due to the risk of myxoedema coma.

Outdated Information?

Another theory is that this information may simply be outdated and hasn’t been reviewed for quite some time.

Take the information on the NHS website about medical exemptions for example. It refers to hypothyroidism as myxoedema, a term used to describe severe hypothyroidism, often when it’s so developed, that patients have swelling of the skin and underlying tissue.[2]

It can also lead to coma and death.

So our thyroid condition, untreated, could possibly kill us if we go into a myxoedema coma due to the lack of thyroid hormones.

However, most people these days never reach this stage before diagnosis of course, but a lot did a hundred or more years ago.

Patients back then were described as having puffy faces with myxoedema, and once started on medication (natural desiccated thyroid was used widely back then), it went away, along with their other symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism was widely referred to as ‘myxoedema’ at this time and so the use of this name on the NHS exemption list makes you question how old this information is and when it was last reviewed.

Round-Up

Still, for those who do do well on Levothyroxine, and have their medical exemption certificate, it’s very useful for them to receive their prescriptions for free. To have free medication for life for a life-long condition, is a godsend and not many other countries offer this.

It just makes you wonder why other life-long conditions such as asthma, for example, aren’t included. Asthma could kill you if left untreated too…

Who knows!

How do you feel about this? Let me know in the comments below. 

You can click on the hyperlinks in the above post to learn more and see references to information given, but more reading and references can also be found at:

References:

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213884/dh_116367.pdf

[2] https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-certificates/medical-exemption-certificates

About Author

Rachel Hill is the highly ranked and multi-award winning thyroid patient advocate, writer, speaker and author behind The Invisible Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid advocacy work includes writing articles, authoring books, producing email newsletters and speaking on podcasts and at events about the many aspects thyroid disease affects and how to overcome these. She is well-recognised as a crucial and influential contributor to the thyroid community and has a large social media presence. Her bestselling books include "Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate" and "You, Me and Hypothyroidism".

5 Comments

  • Michelle Small
    July 28, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    My daughter who has autoimmune hypothyroidism and is in Levo had just turned 18. I asked her doctor for a medical exemption certificate and he said she wasn’t entitled to one as her thyroid issue isn’t severe enough!

    Reply
    • Rachel Hill
      July 29, 2020 at 6:52 pm

      If she’s on Levothyroxine then that should entitle her! Being on hormone replacement qualifies you.

      Reply
  • LT
    March 10, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    I was diagnosed as having myoxedema when I was first diagnosed after the birth of my baby.

    Reply
  • M T
    December 30, 2019 at 5:51 pm

    I was born with underactive thyroid just over 50 years ago. It wasn’t picked up at the time and I very nearly died as a result of myxoedema.
    I am so grateful to have free NHS perscriptions as it has saved me a fortune.
    Would be interested to learn more about alternatives, as despite yearly blood tests iam still tired, but not the mentally tired you get when under perscribed.

    Reply
  • Elaine Cameron
    September 28, 2018 at 10:30 am

    Yes I get my levothyroxine and inhalers for free, I’m also unemployed at the moment so I’m grateful that I do

    Reply

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