Dental, aged care focus of health budget | Health and Fitness

The Gillard government has injected $1 billion of new spending into dental and aged care as the centrepieces of the health budget.

Labor leaked most of its spending initiatives in the weeks before the budget including $49.7 million to expanding the national bowel cancer screening program.

It was also reported that Medicare rebates for cosmetic surgery, including so-called ?designer vaginas?, might be capped ? and they have been.

The government will save $96.5 million over four years by capping a range of procedures covered by the extended Medicare safety net.

Under the safety net, the commonwealth pays 80 per cent of out-of-pocket costs for procedures once a yearly threshold of $1160 is reached.

But Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says some items are being capped ?to discourage excessive fees and to prevent people from misusing Medicare to pay for cosmetic surgery?.

Items on the hit list include vulvoplasty or labioplasty (sometimes called designer vaginas), minor plastic surgery, varicose vein procedures, reversal of male sterilisation, eye injections, nipple reconstruction and nose work.

At the same time the private health insurance rebate will no longer be paid for natural therapies unless the chief medical officer decides they are ?clinically effective?.

On dental care the government will spend $346 million over three years on a state waiting list blitz.

?Some 400,000 people who have been waiting for care on public dental waiting lists will benefit from these measures,? Ms Plibersek said in a statement.

There?s also $159 million over four years to boost the dental workforce and encourage dentists to relocate to the bush.

The aged care package announced in April is being billed as a $3.7 billion initiative but it only contains $577 million in new funding over five years.

The rest of the money is being ?redirected? from existing measures.

But overall the aged care sector has embraced the reform ? with its enhanced user-pays focus ? as a positive first step in making the system more sustainable as the population ages.

The budget also includes, as expected, $49.7 million to expand the national bowel cancer screening program.

Tests are currently provided free to people when they turn 50, 55 and 65 but will now be offered to people turning 60 from 2013 and 70 from 2015 ?with biennial screening phased in from 2017/18?, according to Ms Plibersek.

In a move that will be welcomed by consumers, there?s $200 million in new funding for electronic health records over two years including $4.6 million for additional privacy measures

Following on-going concerns that patients? details could be hacked the Australian information commissioner will be given a ?compliance and oversight? role.

The e-health system is scheduled to go live on July 1.

Ms Plibersek on Tuesday was also spruiking the benefits of $475 million for regional infrastructure projects coming out of the existing health and hospitals fund.

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Article source: http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=748267&vId=

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