Elizabeth Watson-Brown on getting dental and mental health into Medicare

It's time to get dental and mental health into Medicare.
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[@rosemarytony635]

A brilliant idea! Can't wait. Perhaps the US submarine parts (if & when they are delivered) could be sold as scrap metal to fund this?

[@Curious68]

Thank you

[@elephantintheroom5678]

What about the people who can't even pay the gap to go to the doctor or they won't be able to pay their rent? No-one wants to lose the roof over their kid's head.

[@sean2val]

well said lady

[@KryCaNe]

Imagine if the fossil fuel industry and gas industry were made to pay royalties rather than be subsidised by taxpayers?

[@moz2010ify]

They would still remain rich. So I don't understand their side of the story.

[@nottenvironmental6208]

56% of Australians gas is given away for free to >80% foreign owned companies. Billions to tax avoiders. 😢

[@davidcarter4247]

Yes, but you want to shut down the fossil fuel industry. Where do you get the money from then because dental and mental health spending will go on with or without fossil fuel? That is always the critical flaw in left-green thinking. They ideologically seek to get rid of the very people and industries they expect to pay for their profligate spending.

[@Sakboi2012]

@@davidcarter4247 It's called weening and if babies can do so can a nation...

[@davidcarter4247]

@Sakboi2012 You can not simultaneously pay for dental care using taxes on fossil fuels and then ban fossil fuels. Even a Greens supporter must be able to see the contradiction.

[@grahamlindsay5076]

Punters politics also saying to tax Billionaire CEO’s

[@elephantintheroom5678]

I LOVE that show.

[@KryCaNe]

AUKUS is nearly half a trillion for a dud deal fyi.😊

[@tjmarx]

Elizabeth is my federal member. We live a street apart from one another. Dental is hunders to get in the door, thousands if something is wrong. The state will provide some "free" dental care for children, but they'll take the full child dental benefit first so you can't seek the long list of treatment they don't cover at a private dentist unless you pay out of pocket. Health insurance funds invest heavily in dental coverage for check ups and minor procedures, because preventative care SAVES money. All of the modelling shows that including dental and SLEEP medicine in medicare would reduce the overall cost of medicare annually within 8 years. Sleep medicine is an important component that is far to regularly overlooked. It's even more important than dental, and affects far more people. We could reduce cardiac conditions, strokes and obesity related conditions by half simply by adequately funding sleep medicine. Mental health services are critical, but increasing the covered sessions under mental health plans 1. Would be a drop in the ocean 2. Wouldn't change much Most psychologist offices don't like taking patients under mental health plans because dealing with medicare sucks, and demand is high enough that they have plenty of clients willing to pay out of pocket, which is much easier. There aren't enough clinicians in the market to accept demand from out of pocket clients, let alone demand if mental health plan coverage was expanded. The average wait time for a new client in Brisbane is 4 MONTHS. My wife runs a psychology practice with multiple locations. You need to fill the industry shortfall before even considering expanding the mental health plans. Despite all of this, I do not agree with the "tax the billionaires to pay for it" mentality. That's cheap political grandstanding from someone who, like me, lives in one of the wealthiest suburbs in Brisbane. I am also amiss to hear no mention of breast cancer screening. That's only covered by Medicare if you're over 40, or can establish through genetic testing (at your own expense) a high risk factor. The genetic testing is 4x as expensive as just paying out of pocket for the scan. Most women with moderate risk, contract breast cancer in their 30s. They're told to either pay out of pocket or wait to reach 30, if they last that long. Think about that. Breast cancer Australia, who run the pink ribbon campaign, don't help on this either. We need diagnostics all covered by medicare.

[@AlphGen]

Doesn't this Green own three residences,hope she is looking after the tennants in them and not exploiting them

[@Sakboi2012]

What are you on about she isn't a giant gas company with it's heel on your throat???

[@AlphGen]

​@@Sakboi2012she owns 3 properties and the greens have a strong policy about tenant support against property overlords which she mentions in the speech - that is the relevance All politicians must fully disclose assets so you can easily find this online

[@Blackwood-gh6jd]

omg..you are delerious....sort out yr NDIS first as you cant...all you want is socilaist state and free for all..why work..im better off not working