Politicians can dream of bringing dental care into Medicare all they like, but there aren’t enough dentists and there isn’t enough cash, says the peak body.
Labor politicians are pushing for dental services to be included in Medicare, but perhaps they should ask the dentists if that’s remotely feasible.
As reported in The Australian this morning, federal Labor backbenchers are pressuring the prime minister to put Medicare-funded dental services on the agenda if the government should survive the next federal election.
But Dr Scott Davis, president of the Australian Dental Association, told HSD the plan was pie-in-the-sky stuff.
“While this is a positive idea in theory, there is not the sufficient number of dentists and associated roles, including dental assistants, working at the moment to accommodate the needs of 26 million Australians,” said Dr Davis.
Only 5% of dentists work in the public sector currently, with the rest working privately. Many of those do work for the public sector as well under federal funding arrangements.
“However, there is a huge shortfall of dentists to provide even the most basic service of, say, a checkup and clean for every Australian, starting from young children through to seniors,” said Dr Davis.
“Nor are there currently the funds.”
Instead, the ADA wants targeted dental services to be provided to vulnerable populations, starting with seniors, under the Seniors Dental Benefits Schedule, which could cost, according to the association, $15 billion over a decade.
“By contrast, the Greens’ plan would cost $46 billion over three years,” said Dr Davis.
“Once up and running, expand [the Seniors Dental Benefits Schedule] to include those with a disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and those on low incomes.
“They are our most vulnerable populations.
“This does not hammer the dental workforce and involves a slower, controlled rollout using the existing legislation of the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.”
The Greens’ dental plan proposes that all items identified in the Australian Schedule of Dental Services and Glossary would be covered, ranging from cleaning and filling to dentures and orthodontic work.
“The provision of universal access to dental services was a key recommendation of the bipartisan Select Committee on the Provision of and Access to Dental Care Services in Australia,” said the Greens’ policy platform.
“Ninety-seven percent of the 17,544 respondents to this Senate Inquiry agree that the government should make more dental healthcare free.
“Despite promising to expand dental access to seniors in 2019, and universal dental care being in the Labor platform, the government has only retreated from these reforms.
“Independently costed by the PBO, the policy would cost $46b over the forward estimates.”
The Greens propose to pay for their policy with a “supertax” on big corporations.
Labor backbenchers Helen Polley, Brian Mitchell, Dr Mike Freelander and Graham Perrett were all quoted in the media as being in support of discussions around bringing dental into Medicare.
“The reality is, we need to do something about dental health. If I could (add dental to Medicare) tomorrow, I would,” Senator Polley was quoted as saying.
“It’s very much on my radar and agenda to crank this up next term and talk to my colleagues about it.
“It’s a bit like mental health and in the same way we tackled that, we will need to put together a campaign, bring people along and look at how to fund this,” she said.
“At the very least, in the next term we need a comprehensive campaign on oral health.”
A spokeswoman for federal health minister Mark Butler said the government was considering dental policies as part of the National Oral Health Plan for 2025-34 being worked on with states and territories.
The National Dental Reform Oversight Group was also expected to report to the government by the end of this year, including recommendations from a Senate committee into dental care, including adding dental to Medicare.