The NobleDentist Blog

ATO drilling into Labor’s dental plan

Posted in Dental Health News by Dion Kramer on January 27, 2009

This is an article by Siobhain Ryan that recently appeared in The Australian – Australia.

THE taxman is starving the states’ public dental health systems of funds, undermining the federal Government’s promised $490 million teen dental program.

In a letter to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, which represents the public health sector, has warned that many teenagers promised check-ups were missing out because of confusion about the tax status of the scheme.

“Many state and territory public dental services have decided not to provide care under the plan until the tax ruling is resolved,” the AHHA letter said.

Labor’s 2007 election pledge to restore the commonwealth dental scheme hinges on plans to cut public dental waiting lists and to issue $150 vouchers for check-ups to one million teenagers.

The $290 million waiting list plan stalled in the Senate after the Government lost its bid to close down a Coalition dental program that was to fund the new measure.

Now the teen program is in trouble because of fears the Australian Taxation Office will include the $150 vouchers in their assessment of dentists’ incomes.

South Australia Dental Service executive director Martin Dooland said the salaried public dentists pocketed none of the $150 but had to claim the voucher for the state to receive the commonwealth payment.

While salaried public doctors had an ATO agreement not to count Medicare services billed to them on behalf of the state, dentists had been waiting in vain for a similar ruling since the teen dental program started on July 1.

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