Medicare would fund the dental care of children, age pensioners and concession card holders

Every child, age pensioner and concession card holder would get $1000 worth of Medicare-funded dental care every two years under a program the Greens want to push through parliament.

Exclusive: Every child, age pensioner and concession card holder would get $1000 worth of Medicare-funded dental care every two years under a program the Greens want to push through parliament.

The $5.8 billion scheme would be an expansion of the 2014 Labor Greens program that sees Medicare fund dental care for 3.4 million children in receipt of family tax benefit A.

Those eligible would be able to choose their own dentist and receive a Medicare rebate to cover up to $1000 of the cost of treatment over a two-year period.

Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale will launch the election promise in the electorate of McNamara in Victoria on Thursday, eventually that party wants every Australian to get access to Medicare funded dental care.

Quest, Beauty Health and Fitness, Lloyd Simmonds Dental Practice

“There is no reason why your mouth should be treated differently to the rest of your body. Going to the dentist should be just like going to the GP and that’s exactly what the Greens will deliver,” he said.

“Your health shouldn’t be determined by your postcode or bank balance,” said Dr Di Natale, a former GP and public health specialist.

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Greens leader Richard Di Natale says a person’s health shouldn’t be determined by their postcode or bank balance.

More than 2 million Australians a year who need dental care don’t get it, or delay getting it, because of the cost.

And hundreds of thousands of Australians are waiting for over a year to access free dental care through public dental programs.

The cost to the health system is enormous.

Dental problems can contribute to other health problems, including diabetes and heart disease, life threatening infections, premature births and if treatment is delayed dental problems can send people to hospital emergency departments where treatment starts at $500 per consult.

Poor dental health care makes it hard for people with unsightly teeth to get work, it affects what they can eat and can contribute to mental health problems.

Take up of the child dental scheme already in place has been patchy and on average only $312 of rebate has been claimed per child each year in 2016.

Just a third of the 2.9 million children eligible for the rebates have used them.

This is even though seven in 10 kids aged under nine have dental decay and 30,000 children a year are hospitalised for dental treatment under general anaesthetic.

The Coalition Government tried to axe the scheme in the 2014 budget but in 2017 Health Minister Greg Hunt changed tack, embraced the scheme and began to write to families urging them to use it.