|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 Home Campaigns Fix Dental Care News
Medicare Must Be Expanded to Help with Dental Crisis22 September 2006The Health Services Union today called for the expansion of Medicare to help ease a dental health crisis which has people across the country waiting as long as five years for treatment. HSU national secretary Craig Thomson said that children under the age of 18 and people over the age of 65 should be entitled to a Medicare rebate for urgent dental care. Mr Thomson said there was overwhelming public support for dental care services to be available under Medicare. "A Newspoll survey carried out exclusively for the HSU found 92 per cent of people believed that Medicare should be expanded to cover dental health services," he said. "Only four per cent of people opposed the idea. "The HSU is not proposing that everybody should be able to access a Medicare rebate for dental services but for the young and the elderly it is the way forward. "It is a disgrace more is not being done to address the dental needs of Australians who cannot afford these services. "Australia prides itself on its universal healthcare system and yet we have this huge gap in the services we provide. "Having to wait years for treatment for painful tooth and gum problems is totally unacceptable. "Our members working in public dental health services report that they are simply overwhelmed with the demand for services from the public. "It is something state governments should be doing more on but they can't go it alone. "The Federal Government axed the Commonwealth Dental Scheme in 1996 and there are an estimated 650,000 Australians now waiting for dental treatment around the country. "We need a substantial commitment from the Federal Government to assist in this area not the piecemeal response we have seen so far. "Expanding Medicare is the ideal way to provide these services in a cost-effective way." Contact Details Health Services Union hsu@hsu.net.au |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
|
