Bear in mind though that something like 86% of prescriptions are free. The only people who pay for them are those who are well enough to work and wealthy enough to afford it.

So "a tax on the sick" is not quite fair -- it's more "a tax on the generally OK who are occasionally poorly".

I agree with you that it should be covered by general taxation in the same way most other NHS-related expenditure is, but let's keep it in perspective -- the vast majority of people who need prescriptions do not have to pay anything for them.