this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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Private health insurance offered little relief for my dental woes (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 week ago by hanrahan@piefed.social to c/australia@aussie.zone
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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.

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[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

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.

Incidentally I am a doctor and I don't have insurance. I don't wear glasses, I don't play sports that ruin my joints and I'm not getting pregnant. There is literally no benefit. On top of which, when I was a junior doctor it wasn't uncommon for us to have a private patient transferred to the public system when the private physician realised they were actually sick and not just a pay day, the public system treats sick patients, the private system has nice carpet and nurses that smile. We need to remove Medicare payments to private providers and invest properly into public healthcare.

Sorry for the tangentially related rant.

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 8 points 1 week 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.

[–] YeahToast@aussie.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Same experience I've had working in private, now public hospitals. Private hospitals had a nice 12 day stay-cation, if people hit the ceiling of length of stay out they went, if people were quite unwell they got transferred to public. Probably a different story in metro private hospitals.

[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah, a lot of good cardiology and vascular work gets done at the mount hospital in Perth, it's not that they're literally useless all the time. Just most of the time.

[–] Arancello@aussie.zone 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

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.

[–] squigum@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah we look at shucking it sometimes, but husband needs the psych and glasses

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 6 points 1 week ago

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.