UPDATE: the Greens have successfully negotiated an investment of more than half a billion dollars in dental health, which lays the foundations for a new national dental scheme.
The reforms we've negotiated for the 2012-13 Budget will mean:
- $345.9 million for a public dental waiting list blitz, to help the 400,000 Australians on public waiting lists get treatment faster;
- the Chronic Dental Disease Scheme will be saved from Budget cuts, until we can develop a comprehensive national scheme with the Government to replace it;
- $158.6 million to help dentists set up in rural areas and train more dental professionals;
- $10.5 million to promote good oral health; and,
- Building on this investment, we are now heading into negotiations with the Government to design a national, dental scheme this year.
Read more about this year's Budget commitment here. Thanks to your passionate support, we have now started Australia on the road to Denticare.
Denticare Days of Action
Click thumbnails to enlarge
Just as the mouth is an integral part of the body, so too should dental care be part of the health system. The Greens propose that dental care should be incorporated into Medicare under a universal dental health scheme, Denticare.
Denticare will:
• Provide dental treatment covered by Medicare. Phasing in over five years, Medicare will cover preventative and restorative dental treatment so that everybody can afford to go to the dentist.
• Start with the most needy. Low income earners, kids and teens, pensioners and those with chronic disease will be among the first to access dental treatment under Medicare.
• Invest in the public dental system. Injecting much‐needed funds into the public system to decrease waiting lists and to revamp school dental programs.
• Build the dental workforce. To ensure that Australia has enough dental health professionals in the places they need to be, we propose increasing investment in dental training and placement.
Learn more: download the Greens' Denticare Initiative Explained (PDF).
