Submitted 6 days ago by hanrahan@piefed.social to australia@aussie.zone
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-08/private-health-insurance-dentist-/105965284
And what kind of publicly funded health care system still doesn’t recognise dental work as foundational to good, general health?
The one you likely voted for ?
Not once dies she metion it’s part of The Greens policy to change that. “Dental into Medicare and tax billionaires” apparently doesn’t resonate.
I know several families who hve done the math and concluded that self-insurance, where you just bank the premiums, has worked very well. Most have young families.
It’s always that way until something big goes wrong though, then you’ll wish you had insurance. Home and contents, health, pet, car - they’re a waste of money until the very thing that you need them for happens.
Extras, which dental is part of, maxes out at about a thousand dollars on even the most expensive policies. So if you have a dental disaster, you’re still going to need money.
Certainly private insurance can be useful for skipping the queue for elective surgery, but that’s it. Things like cancer treatment or traumatic accidents are all in the public system as they are not profitable.
This is particularly the case with “extras cover” which is really what the article is about. Have often seen it characterised as more of a savings plan than insurance, but it serves the industry to market it as a sort of extension to hospital cover.
Yeah we look at shucking it sometimes, but husband needs the psych and glasses
HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 6 days ago
It is absurd the Medicare doesn’t cover dental. I see a patient once or twice a month delaying dental care because of cost.
I kind of understand the government being cautious about controversial reforms but the libs had literally nothing to say about the recent GP bulk billing changes as it’s just popular. Medicare covering dental care and increasing school funding to meet Gonski targets are almost opposition proof.
vividspecter@aussie.zone 6 days ago
My (likely delusional) hope is that Labor are quietly working on this in the background, but haven’t worked out the details yet. But if they are, they should get on with it while they have a massive majority and the Liberal party are imploding.