Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Failure to fund dental scheme has huge fiscal, medical costs
The Federal Government’s refusal to fund basic dental care of older Australians is costing them good oral health – as well as wasting millions of taxpayer dollars from seniors having unnecessary hospital visits.
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) has found a staggering 16,000 seniors were admitted to hospital for urgent treatment of painful dental issues in 2022-23 — a figure expected to rise to 22,630 by 2027-28, representing a 42 per cent increase from an already unacceptable level.
“It’s a health trend that worsens by the year,” says ADA president Chris Sanzaro (pictured). “While governments of all persuasions deny that the mouth is connected to the rest of the body and oral health doesn’t need additional funding, this shocking treatment of our most vulnerable is only going to worsen.
“We wouldn’t treat our children or even our pets like this — so why is it okay to wilfully ignore the mouths of seniors and other vulnerable Australians? The ADA finds it baffling at best and sadistic at worst. To resolve this issue, the ADA is urging the next government to introduce a Seniors Dental Benefits Schedule to support older Australians to maintain their oral health.”
The issue was ignored in this week’s federal Budget, an omission that was heavily criticised by COTA (Council on the Ageing) Australia, an advocacy organisation for older Australians.
ADA research and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data show that potentially preventable dental hospitalisations for Australians aged 65 and over increased from 10,495 in 2016-17 to 15,959 in 2022-23.
“Potentially preventable hospitalisations like these represent not only a burden on our healthcare system but also reduced quality of life for our ageing population,” says Sanzaro. “We should prioritise access to regular dental check-ups and preventative treatments to reverse this trend.”
The projected increase in hospitalisations has implications for healthcare resource allocation. It also highlights the need for greater public awareness of the importance of oral health in older age and access to dental treatment.
This grim picture is replicated at state level. In NSW, there were 3,721 potentially preventable hospitalisations of seniors for dental conditions in 2021-2022. In other states the data is harder to access or is non-existent, except for Queensland where there are 207 over-65s per 1,000 people (or around one in five from that age cohort) hospitalised every year for a dental condition.
The ADA is urging the next government to:
• Fund a Seniors Dental Benefits Schedule up to specified limits for holders of Commonwealth seniors’ health cards, pensioner concession cards and health care cards who are 65 years or older; and
• Include an oral health component to GP check-ups of over-75s so that problems can be identified earlier.
COTA Australia has endorsed the ADA’s Seniors Dental Benefits Scheme, saying it’s urgently needed to help stop thousands of older Australians unnecessarily ending up in the hospital system.
The ADA statistics should act as a wake-up call on the much-needed introduction of this scheme,” says Patricia Sparrow, chief executive officer of COTA Australia.
“Every day our governments delay action on providing affordable dental care for those who need it most, more and more older people are falling ill and being forced into our hospital system unnecessarily. That’s not good for anyone.
“As we live longer, the importance of preventative health becomes even more critical — for our quality of life, our healthcare system and for the budget.
She says as people age, the stakes get higher. “We’re not only talking about embarrassment and social isolation, but also increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and even chromic malnutrition in older people. It’s particularly difficult for more vulnerable older people and those living in rural and remote areas.”
