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‘The announcement yesterday by Health Minister Ley that the Commonwealth funded Child Dental Benefits Scheme (CDBS) and the Public Adult Dental National Partnership Agreement will both be cut is a kick in the teeth for the hundreds of thousands of Australians who suffer daily both from tooth decay and the various diseases which poor oral health promotes’, said Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society.

The announcement ignores the findings of a report into the CDBS authored by the Government’s own Chief Medical Officer which recommended an expansion of the scheme to cover in-patient care for complicated cases and much better promotion of the scheme.

No explanation has been offered as to why there is a cut in funding except the same unfounded excuse that savings need to be made. These cuts are not savings, they don’t save lives , they don’t get more people healthy and able to work, they add extra costs to the States and Territories, and the only beneficiary is the ‘Federal budget bottom line’.

If pharmaceutical companies which profit from the sale of prescription drugs to address disastrous dental decay were forced to pay the 30% corporate tax rate on their $8 billion yearly earnings in Australia rather than the paltry $85 million they do pay, we would have another $2.3 billion to properly fund our public dental schemes.

Dr Tim Woodruff                                            Dr Con Costa

President                                                       Vice President

Ph 0401042619                                             Ph 0418400309