Greens secure dental funding – but can we afford it?
The Greens deal with the government to support means testing of the private health insurance rebate in return for funding from dental care is already under scrutiny. Individuals earning more than $83,000 and families earning more than $166,000 will start losing some of their thirty percent rebate, with the cut off point of $129,000 for individuals and $258,000 for families. The changes mean nearly two and a half billion extra dollars in the government’s coffers, of which $165 million goes to dental care.
But opposition leader Tony Abbott has said he will scrap the deal if he is elected, and the Nationals Warren Truss last night extolled the virtues of the rebate, saying it takes the pressure off public hospitals. Greens Senator Richard Di Natale is one of the architects of the deal – he says there’s no evidence for Mr Truss’s claims.