ADA Senior Dental Care Subsidy Pilot Scheme
“Academics from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine and Health have evaluated the effects of the dental treatment of the participants’ dental and overall health, with results showing an improvement in oral health outcomes, particularly in the management of tooth decay, gum disease, and provision of prosthodontic care. “
– Australian Dental Association
Senior’s Dental Care Subsidised For Better Health Under ADA
The truth of the matter is that some 60% of the Australian population struggle to afford going to the dentist. Of these millions of Aussies, many of them are in the senior’s age group and suffer accordingly with pain and difficulty in eating, drinking and even talking. In a wealthy nation like Australia it is a disgrace that too many of our elderly are too poor to get the dental treatment they require. We all know that the early designers of Medicare let us all down by not including dental care in this universal healthcare insurance scheme. The ADA is determined to get subsidised dental care for seniors over the line with the current federal government. The ADA senior dental care subsidy pilot scheme clearly shows how much a national program is required.
Poorer Seniors Down-under Deserve Subsidised Dental Care
The positive results achieved by the pilot scheme of this ADA senior dental care subsidy program is an important step on the way to getting this happening on a national level. The ADA reckon that starting with a senior dental program is the way to go. It targets over 65 Australians, generally, and over 50 for First Nations people and the projected budget would be around $1.1 to $1.5 billion per year. This is much cheaper than going the whole hog, as the Greens wanted with dental for all included in Medicare at $13 billion per year.
Dental Emergencies For Oldies
The ADA senior dental care subsidy pilot scheme is showing how much of a game changer a full roll out could be. There are, according to Dr. Chris Sanzaro, President of the Australian Dental Association (ADA), older Aussies turning up at hospital emergency departments with severe dental issues. This is a real problem confronting our aging population and things are only going to get worse if we do not take action now. We live at a time when Australian citizens cannot afford to live in their own country. Housing issues around buying and renting are at crisis level with ordinary folk priced out of the market. Several years of high inflation have eaten away the savings of many. This followed on the back of a global pandemic. Poverty among older Australians is much more common than you might think.
“The increasing number of Canberrans accessing food support amid the cost of living crisis has been described as a local emergency hiding in plain sight. New data from OzHarvest shows 37% of people accessing food services are new, up on 30% last year. OzHarvest ACT’s Christine Scott says more than 28,000 meals are being delivered every week. This study is telling us that this is our neighbours, these are people who are standing in line dropping their kids off. By the time someone is accessing food support, things are dire.“
– Radio 2CCC
Times have been economically tough and dental services have only become more expensive over the last decade. The ADA recognises the trouble that many older Australians are in when it comes to their oral health. Medical science is identifying the link between poor oral health and serious medical conditions, which often end up being terminal. Every day scientific journals are full of studies and reviews highlighting the connection between our oral microbiome and our wellbeing.
“Avoidable dental hospitalisations for over-65s have been growing and the Australian Dental Association projects it will rise by a further 42 per cent over the coming years.
It is calling for a scheme recommended by multiple inquiries that would give seniors $1,100 of free dental care every two years.”
– ABC Australia
The tough love punitive approach of successive federal governments in maintaining below the poverty line welfare payments for the unemployed has resulted in these people getting to retirement age in a state of poverty. Incrementally, this has occurred over time and has now meant there is a veritable crisis being recognised by people like the President of the ADA. We saw this in the Robodebt scandal, where the Liberal National Party Coalition federal government accused half a million Australians of owing large amounts of money to Centrelink over 6 years. This was later proven to be false and illegal but cost some vulnerable Aussies their lives at the time. A $1.8 billion settled class action and a Royal Commission shone a stark light on the ideological betrayal of 500,000 Aussies by their government and senior public servants.
Many Australians are still waiting for someone to be held accountable for this misuse of power. At the time, the media was used by government ministers to accuse individual Australians of being dole bludgers and welfare cheats. Segments on A Current Affair went to town on individuals with the connivance of politicians and bureaucrats. These accusations were later found to be false by the evidence. However, the demonisation of the unemployed has long been a favourite ploy by members of the political class for their own purposes. Downward envy, they call it. The politics of grievance employed by demagogues like enjoy punching down on refugees and other minorities. Targets in weaker demographics cannot fight back.
“A Seniors Dental Benefits Scheme is urgently needed to help stop thousands of older Australians ending up in our hospital system unnecessarily, COTA Australia says.
New data released today by the Australian Dental Association shows that 16,000 older people were admitted to hospital for urgent treatment of painful dental issues in 2022-23. The ADA expects that figure to increase by 42% to 22,630 by 2027-28.
Chief Executive Officer of COTA Australia – the leading advocacy organisation for older people – Patricia Sparrow said the statistics should act as a wake-up call on the much needed introduction of a Seniors Dental Benefit Scheme.
“The Australian Dental Association’s new statistics highlight what we’ve known for a long time – that a lack of affordable dental and oral care is leading to disastrous health outcomes for too many older Australians,” Ms Sparrow said.”
– COTA.org.au
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