Labor to break promise on dental subsidy scheme
Health Minister Nicola Roxon has ruled out funding a comprehensive dental subsidy scheme in the May budget, breaking a key commitment Labor struck with the Greens to form government.
Ms Roxon told The Australian that any new program to cover the cost of dental treatment for low-income Australians was “not going to be achievable in this budget” and there was “no magic pudding” of money available.
Ms Roxon also put medical researchers on notice that she had a “difficult message” for them after refusing to douse speculation that $400 million would be cut from their budgets.
The government is preparing to slash health spending as part of its bid to find billions in savings to ensure the nation’s balance sheet returns to surplus in 2012-13, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard has begun preparing Australians for budget pain.
But Labor will need support from the Greens to pass its budget measures. In a pre-budget interview with The Australian, Ms Roxon also held little hope that radiologists would win across-the-board increases to their Medicare rebates, which have remained frozen for 13 years.
