Free dental care could be coming for millions of Australians – as Labor MPs push for bold new Medicare overhaul

Free dental care could soon be available to millions of Australians amid mounting pressure on the Albanese government for a Medicare overhaul.

Polls indicate Labor may lose votes at the upcoming federal election, pushing them into minority government and giving more power to the cross bench.

The last time this happened in 2010, the Greens pushed to put children’s dental services under Medicare, allowing more than three million children to access free care.

Greens leader Adam Bandt wants to expand this to all Australians, in a plan that is  estimated to cost about $45.6 billion.

‘As anyone who’s ever had a toothache knows, dental care isn’t optional,’ he said last month.

‘It’s critical that we expand Medicare so it covers everything, for everyone.’

Now, a growing number of Labor MPs are calling for the issue to be part of the government’s agenda in the next parliamentary term.

Labor’s Tasmanian senator Helen Polley said the party ‘needed’ to move on dental health.

‘If I could (add dental to Medicare) tomorrow, I would,’ she told The Australian.

‘It’s very much on my radar and agenda to crank this up next term and talk to my colleagues about it.’

Ms Polley said dental care needed the same support and funding that had been given to mental health services over the last decade.

It comes as a growing number of Labor MPs are calling for the issue to be part of the government’s agenda in the next parliamentary term (stock image)

A spokesperson for Health Minister Mark Butler said the government was considering including dental policies in the National Oral Health Plan for 2025-34. 

Labor has invested $220million in the ‘dental reform agenda’ which includes a study into the cost of adult dental services in the public sector. 

Macarthur MP Mike Freelander, a paediatrician, said there was an ‘economic divide for who can and can’t access dental care’ in Australia. 

‘I do think it’s important we get some dental care in the publicly accessible health system, but the Greens’ suggestion to cover all dental care is unaffordable at the present time,’ Dr Freelander said. 

Poor oral health can have a significant impact on Australians, with one in five adults avoiding certain foods due to dental issues and one third feeling uncomfortable with their appearance due to their teeth, the National Oral Health Plan revealed. 

According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, between 2017 and 2018, almost four in 10 people over the age of 15 had avoided or delayed seeing the dentist because of the cost.