Make lifelong anticoagulants exempt from prescription charge

Anticoagulants are only prescribed lifelong when there is a definite high risk of repeat incidents of strokes, heart attack, blood clots or similar. I personally suffered a blood clot, which was a pulmonary embolism blocking both arteries in my lungs and was told I would be lucky to survive the night. I was 29.

There was no fault of my own attributed to the clot. And due to the severity of the clotting and the likelihood of repeats, with such a high risk of death I now rely on anticoagulants to prevent this. However, I have to pay for these, along with other medications which are related to the side effects of my drugs. This makes it very costly.

These costs are inconsistent so it is not efficient for me to pay monthly. As an example, let's say I get a cold, firstly I'll be blowing my nose a lot which, due to the anticoagulants, gives me nosebleeds and I will need a prescription for a cream to help heal the capillaries in my nose. Secondly I will cough somewhat, and due to the scarring on my lungs, I will need painkillers for chest pain, but I cannot take over the counter ibuprofens as they are contraindicative to anticoagulants so I need prescription strength codeine. Plus my normal anticoagulants. That's three prescriptions just for a cold. And the added medications will send my anticoagulants levels out meaning I am no longer protected against further clots and therefore need a bridging medication until I'm better. That's four prescriptions just for a cold!

Overall, I believe that because anticoagulants actually save my life and the lives of so many others on a daily basis, they should be provided free of charge.