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 Home News General
Budget Measure on Teeth Not Enough08 May 2007The Health Services Union said today the Federal Government’s dental care measures announced in the budget failed to address the national crisis in the area. HSU national secretary Craig Thomson said the extension of dental services provided under Medicare announced in the Budget would only apply to people with chronic medical conditions. "Anything that improves access to dental care is a good thing but the reality is hundreds of thousands of people who need dental care are still going to miss out," Mr Thomson said. "The Federal Government has missed its chance to put in place a solution to the dental crisis. "They are proceeding with a scheme that only addresses a fraction of the problem. Spending only around $90 million extra year is far short of what is required. "For 11 years the Commonwealth Government has sat by and watched this problem get worse." "When you look at the size of the surplus it is a missed opportunity to ensure everyone who needs it has access to dental care. "The Health Services Union has been campaigning to extend Medicare to ensure free basic dental treatment is available to the elderly and to children. We also want an expansion of state services for low-income families." Mr Thomson said HSU members working in public dental care services run by the states and territories said they were totally unable to meet the demand with an estimated 650,000 people waiting up to ten years for treatment. "The public dental care waiting lists are really just the tip of the iceberg when you have almost 50 per cent of people saying they have put off dental care they need because of the cost," Mr Thomson said. "It is unacceptable in a country like Australia where we pride ourselves on the quality of healthcare to be not doing more to ensure people have access to dental care. "It is clear that the state and territory government's need to do more on dental care but without a national solution they will not fix the problem." |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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