Chronically ill patients could miss out on Federal dental health funding
New Commonwealth dental funding to help people with a chronic or complex illness will only be paid for people well enough to sit up in a dentist’s chair.
The scheme, due to start in November, provides eligible patients up to $4,250 of dental care every two years on referral from their doctor.
But if the patient has special needs that would require them to be under general anaesthetic to undergo treatment, will miss out if the treatment is provided in a public hospital.
This could include people with intellectual disability or mental illness or whose oral health was so poor as to require treatment in a hospital.
A Federal Health Department official confirmed that the exclusion was due to the view that public hospitals were the financial responsibility of state and territory governments.
