Huge change to Medicare proposed – but it could cost taxpayers an extra $12billion a year
The federal government has been proposed free dental care for all Australians with a $12 billion a year expansion of Medicare.
A Senate inquiry into Australia’s dental care system has been handed to Health Minister Mark Butler, who will have to respond when Parliament returns this year.
Currently, patients must pay privately for dental visits and treatments, with the exception of children under 17 who meet eligibility requirements and some concession card holders.
According to a 2023 report from the Grattan Institute, 32 percent of patients needing dental care skipped treatment – this equates to millions of Australians – with around half of them citing cost as the main factor.
That report suggested that the National Health Reform Agreement, which will be updated next year, should be the mechanism through which a new plan is negotiated between the federal and state governments.
Medicare could be expanded to include full dental care coverage under the federal government’s proposal
The Parliamentary Budget Office has budgeted a range of options to expand Medicare to include dentistry as part of the new Greens-led inquiry, which included two senators from Labor and the Coalition.
The four identified systems were budgeted with both a capped benefit amount for patients and a version without cap discounts.
The first option would be blanket coverage for all Medicare cardholders, which would cost $8.3 billion for the capped version over five years and $11.6 billion for the no-capped version.
The second option is means-tested and would provide discounts for income support recipients and retirees, and would cost $3 billion for the capped and $4 billion for the non-capped versions.
A third option that provides full coverage for everyone over 65 would cost $1.7 billion for the capped versions and $2 billion for the uncapped versions.
And a fourth option, which would apply to all Medicare cardholders but include only preventative measures such as checkups and diagnostic tests, would cost $2.7 billion for the capped version and $3.8 billion for the version without limit.
Australians currently have to pay for dental visits or treatments out of pocket
By comparison, Medicare had a government budget of $31 billion in the last financial year and the National Disability Insurance Scheme had a cost of $37 billion.
Dental treatments were initially intended to be covered when Medicare was first introduced in the 1970s, but were jettisoned due to budget constraints.
Health guide Cleanbill estimated that Australians paid an average of $230 for a standard dental visit last year.