Australian Gov just removed one of our disability schemes

[taniaaust1]

Bye, bye the good free dental care I used to get..

The current Government has just closed the "Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme" to which I was finding very useful which was free dental treatment, if one is on a chronic health care plan (arranged by a doctor). Sports drinks for POTS has thinned all the enamel on my teeth so I need to go to dentist every 6 mths and needed 5 fillings last year.. (the scheme last year saved me probably over $800)


What I hate too is thou I use that scheme, our gov didnt even give us any notice at all that it was going to close it and Ive now found out too late. (I would of had to update things before 8th Sept to still be valid to the end of this year and as no one told me earlier, its too late for me to be able to go back to the dentist on it, . (Ive found out the gov has stopped this scheme via a letter from my dentist).

This gov dont get a shit about those with chronic health conditions. Apparently the dental clinics themselves didnt know our gov was going to be doing this till just before they did.

I guess this is just another thing we can all thank Juila Gillard for.

Im peeved off as Ive been holding off that over due dental appointment off in favour of trying to get on top of my medical issues cause I didnt know.... and now my dental appointment and probably more treatment will be costing a lot. (It used to be a 2-3 year wait for a free appointment at the Adelaide dental clinic ...unless you are in agonsiing pain and often people by the time they get there, have teeth which arent savable.. so this other scheme for one like me who has now fragile teeth was great).

 

[biophile]

It seems that it will eventually be replaced with another scheme: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/go...c-dental-schemes/story-e6frf7jo-1226460559009

 

[taniaaust1]

It seems that it will eventually be replaced with another scheme: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/go...c-dental-schemes/story-e6frf7jo-1226460559009

Thanks . I didnt know that. Funny how they cancel one scheme out well before they are due to bring the next one in, the new scheme dont start till Jan 2014.
(Is that a cost saving method itself, maybe peoples teeth will completely rot by the time they get seen, its cheaper to pay a dentist to remove a whole tooth then start doing crowns, fillings and that).

Low income adults with dental problems will be able to get their treatment from public dental schemes run by the states.
There are currently over 400,000 Australians on waiting lists for care in these clinics which employ just 10 per cent of the nation’s dentists. These clinics will receive a $1.3 billion boost under the new dental plan.

umm so everyone who uses to old scheme in the meantime till Jan 2014 now will have to be added to the current 400, 000 stuck on the waiting lists now. sounds a dumb plan to me. There will be a huge build up of people to be on that plan and be accessing the public dental clinics.

Before with the chronic health care dental scheme i was on... I could attend ANY dental clinic at all even private ones of my choice and only had a wait of 3-7 days when ever I needed to go. I didnt have to go to those gov dental clinics which had the huge sometimes 2 year waiting lists. The old scheme was helping keep people away from the gov dental clinics and making the waiting list even worst... how does making everyone now go there improve things.

Now all those people who were on that old scheme and previously able to use private clinics with it.. will now have to all go to the government clinics... even with the boost the gov is going to give to its own clinics.. that waiting list is going to now get HUGER.

Not only that.. many disabled people even severely disabled ones, will now have to travel afar to go to the gov clinics (there isnt a gov one in my town so it means I wont be able to catch a taxi to the dentist as it will be a trip to a different town and me also now will have to find someone to get me there).

sighs.. this new plan isnt really about helping people.. but rather about the gov making more cut backs and deciding not to pay for those who are disabled to be able to attend private clinics close to their homes anymore. It will leave many disabled unable to get to a dentist now.

How will they even get more dentists to work for the public dental clinics (even if they had the room for all the extras they are going to need). The private dentists keep busy themselves.. i cant imagine then leaving the private clinics to go and work for the gov ones.

 

[biophile]

It is fortunate that it lasted as long as it did. The Howard government introduced the old scheme, but if they were re-elected in 2007 I think that the scheme would have been long gone by now due to the GFC (Hockey was on Q&A later saying that if they were re-elected they would have slashed tens of billions of dollars from the budget to avoid debt).