Minister Plibersek maintains Medicare CDDS line

Health Services Minister Tanya Plibersek says that Medicare has to follow the law in managing the Chronic Dental Disease Scheme. In a hard hitting interview by MTR’s Luke Grant, the Minister said: “We don’t have an option to ignore the law”.

The radio interview outlined the case against the demanding auditing of the scheme which was made by two Melbourne dentists last week.

Ms Plibersek said that lack of knowledge about the scheme was not an excuse.

Several times in the course of the interview the Minister seemed under pressure. She said that of Australia’s approximately 11,000 dentists, 62 had been audited with 41 not complying with the scheme’s requirements and 41 being let off.

Ms Plibersek said that about 700 dentists had come to the attention of Medicare “because of very high billing” and they would be looked at “methodically”.

She also made reference to the advocacy efforts of ADA concerning the scheme and its impact on dentists.

She avoided the key issue however, that it is unreasonable to bankrupt a practitioner for minor breaches of red tape procedure.

Greens' Senator queries Government

As a matter of public interest, Senator Richard Di Natale (Greens, Victoria) yesterday raised the matter in the Senate. He said "the Government has tried to close the scheme twice and is now targetting dentists through Medicare audits, which is causing serious concerns among many dentists who have provided services through the CDDS". He also spoke of the poor dental health of the nation, saying that is an "epidemic".