Reducing Financial Barriers In Dental Care

Oral health has a direct impact on the general health, hence, it is important that all Canadians have adequate access to dental care services. Over the years successive Governments have reduced financial support to programs delivering dental care to most vulnerable populations. As a result, many low income families and other vulnerable groups have been unable to access dental care. There is further escalation in the disparities in oral health care among Canadians, as the number of Canadians losing dental care benefits continues to increase. Also, higher oral health care costs can be expected in the near future due to shortage of health care professionals.

The healthcare system in Australia is complex involving many funders and healthcare providers. In 2011 to 2012 the health expenditure in Australia was estimated to have been $140.2 billion, which made up 9.5 percent of gross domestic product in that year (AIHW, 2013). Responsibilities are split between different levels of government, and between the government and non-government sectors. With non-government sources funding for about 30 percent of the total health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). Australians make their contribution to their healthcare system through taxes, including the Medicare levy, and through private financing such as private health insurance. Private health insurance in Australia is a voluntary facility for private funding of hospital care and ancillaries. Insurance funds may cover the costs of treatment for private patients in private or public hospitals and can include some services that Medicare does not cover. The Australian governments fund for almost 70 percent of the health expenditure each year (AIHW, 2013). The federal government contributes to approximately two-thirds, while State, Territory and local governments together contribute for the other one-third (AIWH, 2013). As a generalization the Australian government is primarily responsible for the funding of healthcare, through health insurance arrangements and direct payments to the state and territories, while state and territories are primarily responsible

As society continues to age, one fourth of the world will be 65 years or older, thanks to the influx of baby boomers. Due to this rapid growth in longevity, this will multiply the problem of access to care. Attention towards systemic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and strokes are being discussed by government agencies and health care professionals. (Overview of oral health, 2017). There is evidence linking oral health to systemic health, therefore, a need for a more collaborative approach towards prevention is critical to achieve overall health for the public (Jin, 2016).

The essay discusses the article "Access to Health Care in the U.S", which highlights the key issues of the healthcare system in US and how has it impacted the society as a whole. The healthcare system based on social inequalities has a lot of shortcomings which are discussed in the essay.

The provision of dental treatment in Australia is a topic that ignites a wide range of opinions and emotions among the various stakeholders involved. Much of dentistry in Australia is provided in the private setting, some estimates suggesting 83%1. Australians fund up to 60% of dental care via out of pocket payments1,2. Only a relatively small amount of dental care is provided in the public sector to patients who are often disadvantaged in regards to their oral health1. It is estimated that a large amount of the population is unable to access dental care due to finances; however the capacity of the public sector to provide dental care is limited. With limited funding and resources, the public sector is unable to provide dental care for all Australians and a large proportion of people are on long wait lists, some estimates of 650,0002.

Healthcare is essential to the nature of our well- being, it provides some financial relief to individuals or families during doctor or hospital visits. Medical care is very expensive, and without health insurance it can be even more of a financial burden. However, being able to afford health insurance has been a challenge for a lot of family’s. For some, they must choose whether to feed their families, pay utility bills or make monthly health insurance payments; so, they allow the insurance to laps. The

One of such studies was carried out by Han et al, 2014 utilizing data obtained from household interviews conducted by the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Subsequent to controlling for statistic considers, the receipt of dental checkups and routine wellbeing checkups essentially increased in young adults between 19 and 25 years old after the implementation of the ACA of the needy scope grown-ups in the vicinity of, however not in those between the ages of 26 and 30 years. The rates of people who got flu immunization and Pap testing changed nearly nothing over this period in both age ranges. Analysis aimed at comparing the differences in the utilization of these services after sometime between grown-ups who were between the ages of 19 and 25 years revealed that, the individuals who were between the ages of 26 and 30 years, noteworthy changes were seen in the receipt of dental checkups and pulse estimations, yet not in the utilization of the other three administrations We additionally watched a noteworthy increment (from 36.7% to 42.4%) in the rate of young adults between the ages of 19 and 25 years who had private dental insurance. Although dental checkups are not mandatory under the ACA, numerous dental carriers have selected to include dental coverage in their plans (Han et al,

Primary care is the first person’s contact with the health system, in which mostly provided for the community by self-employed general practitioner (Biggs 2013). In primary dental care setting, dentist can work for children and adolescents in schools, a public dental health programmes and some dental care for adults (the elderly, disabled, single parents with health care cards and the unemployed) in community

The welfare state model of healthcare is a system where the government provides healthcare for all Australian citizens through Medicare (Department of Health, 2014). Medicare is given by the Australian government to all Australian citizens and permanent residents, therefore the government pays in full, or subsidises, public hospital services, referred consultations with allied health professionals, and non- medical treatments for these individuals (Krassnitzer & Willis, 2016, p27). Medicare is regulated through eligibility criteria including that the health professional in private practice must be registered,

The study sought to examine the level of access to dental services among residents of Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland. The aim of this interprovincial comparison of access to dental services is to provide an understanding of how different provincial dental health programs may account for differences in access levels among their residents. The findings show that in all three selected provinces, children or individuals below 18 years have higher levels of access to dental services than those in the other age groups. In addition, the study reveals lower levels of access among the elderly population. These findings confirm similar findings in other literature (Andkhoie et al., 2014; Bhatti, Rana, & Grootendorst, 2007; Friedman et

The implementation of the health care reform law has yielded the largest reduction in the aim for uninsured for the last couple of decades. But, while the uninsured rates have decline access to care has now become a prevalent issue. “ The expansion of coverage is not an expansion of actual care and this distinction is becoming very clear’ Heritage ( 2014) Access to

Economic status of the dental industry is “A key risk factors for many oral diseases, and significantly determines both general and oral health” (Beaglehole Pg 49) .Countries income and dental care can determine the number of oral health or dental diseases people might have in that country. In appendix 8 and 9there is a chart which identifies the “Relationship between GDP per capita” (Beaglehole 48) in the dental care industry.

Dental care will increase due to climate change and as an outcome there will be limited fund obtain due to the demand. Due to destruction of the quality of supply from the climate change the amount of fund to cover the basic dental benefit will decrease. “The government’s allocation for healthcare remains an insignificant 0.36 percent of GDP in the 2010-11budget. This is still very far from the three percent of GDP that needs to be allocated to the healthcare system to provide quality basic healthcare” (Khanna).

Although many Americans have good oral hygiene due to fluoride and making everyday good decisions, others do not have any access at all to oral health care. Over the years, dentists have been trying to demonstrate the importance of oral care. (“Access to Dental Care”) From commercials to campaigns, dentists will continue to demonstrate to their patients as well as to the people who don't have insurance the importance of oral health care. They will teach them preventative care and some techniques on how to prevent from getting any diseases.

According to the latest disclosure by Dr. Al-Obaida’a on one of the local journals in Saudi Arabia (Al-Riyadh, April 22, 2014) that the ratio of dentists to population estimated to be one dentist for 7,690 individuals comparing to what recommended nationally that should one dentist to 1,700 individuals (6). SDS is one of the main active organizations in dentistry in Saudi Arabia. Its aims are to encourage scientific researches in oral health, encourage dentists to publish their finding, organize the weekly scientific seminars and international meetings, and distribute awareness through campaigns (6).