Concerns are growing among Tory MPs about proposals that would scrap free prescriptions in England for some people aged between 60 and 65, as ministers search for ways to stem rising NHS costs. Charities have already sounded their alarm at a consultation by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) proposing to link free prescriptions to the retirement age, meaning the threshold would rise from 60 to 66 years old. It is estimated to save the Treasury more than £250m a year, but comes as MPs are already concerned about rising living costs. Ministers have been considering the move for months, but no decision has yet been taken on the move that could affect more than 2 million people. The new system would see them paying £9.35 per-item cost for medicines prescribed by their GP, unless they qualified for free prescriptions in another way. Prescription changes are often made in April, meaning a decision could be imminent. The former Tory health minister Dan Poulter said that ministers should consider whether a time of rising living costs was the right moment to increase the age for free prescriptions. “Under the coalition government, we looked at raising the age at which people are entitled to a free prescription to link it with retirement age, but at that time, we were in the midst of a period of stagnating wages, so we decided that for the relatively modest savings it would generate, it was not the right time to implement the policy,” he said. “While I can still see the logic of linking the entitlement to a free prescription with the retirement age, it would be a brave government that decided to implement this policy at a time of rising household bills and increases in national insurance. In my view, it would be more prudent for the government to reconsider this matter at a later date.” In another sign of Tory unease, Stephen Metcalfe, the Conservative MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, has also warned in parliament that he did not want to see the current rules around free prescriptions changed. While ministers say that no decision has been taken so far, the government has argued that about 90% of community prescription items were already free of charge, while those on low incomes or certain medical conditions did not have to pay. The government has also said that the upper age limit for free prescriptions has not changed since 1995, meaning it had become completely disconnected from the pension age.