NUS launch free health care campaign

Campaign for free prescriptions!!

Fed up with the endless costs associated with being a student? Feeling the stretch of that £6 every time your doctor prescribes you some medicine?

NUS recognises that being a student is costly. New textbooks, hidden course costs, printing credits and library fines can mount up before you even start to think about the debt you're building up on your student loan. Prescription charges are yet another pull on your pocket and discriminate against those students who rely on medicine on a daily or weekly basis.

The Government has announced a recent review into health care costs and NUS wants this review to take into account our longstanding campaign to get free prescriptions, dental care and eye tests for all students.

We believe that the current system of exemptions through an HC1 form is costly, bureaucratic and acts as a deterrent to students accessing healthcare. In fact, it's likely that the administration costs related to the HC1 form are actually higher than the cost of the medicine!

To really make an impact we need as many MPs as possible to sign Early Day Motion (EDM) 921 - Early Day Motions are best thought of as petitions put forward by MPs on specific subjects.

We are urging all students to join the campaign by writing to their MP asking them to 1) sign the EDM and 2) to write to Health Minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to raise concerns about student access to healthcare.

Find out who your MP is here and find out if they’ve signed the EMD here

· If your MP hasn’t signed up, use the model letter below to ask them to.

· If your MP has already signed the EDM, you could write to thank them and ask them to write to Health Minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, to raise concerns about students accessing healthcare.

· If your MP is a Minister or Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), they may not be able to sign EDMs. However you could write and ask them to contact Health Minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to raise concerns about student access to healthcare.

Resources

Model letter to your MP

NUS briefing

EDM

Press release