Australian Dentists Campaigning for Medicare Debts to be Written Off

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Dentists in Australia are campaigning for Medicare debts to be written off. So far, 46 dentists have been ordered to pay back money as a result of failing to fill in paperwork associated with Medicare work they have carried out.

The dentists have been ordered to pay back more than $21.5 million, but so far, Medicare has recovered only $250,000. The dentists were ordered to pay money back after an audit revealed that they had failed to fill in paperwork properly for patients covered by the chronic disease dental scheme.

Peter Dutton, health spokesman for the opposition, suggested the introduction of a private members bill, which would wipe out the debts, but it has been suggested that dentists were unaware that they needed to provide patients and the GPs who referred them with treatment plans.

Dutton has the support of the Green party and believes that independents will also support the bill. Senator Richard Di Natale, health spokesman for the Greens, said that the party supported the “intent of the bill”, as they believe that many dentists have been unfairly involved in the audit.

Dr Wilma Johnson, a dentist from Tasmania, joined Dutton in Canberra to support the bill. She was ordered to pay back a total of $24,000 as a result of the audit but claimed she, like many of the other dentists implicated by the Medicare audit, had no idea that she was supposed to be providing paperwork to GPs and patients. She added that she is worried for the future of the profession because dentists have lost faith in the government.

 

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