Dental Private Health Insurance Funding Australia
Australians are known to spend actively for Dental care services as it can affect general health. More than ~ Australians are hospitalized each year for preventable dental conditions; the 2nd highest among acute potentially preventable hospitalizations during FY’2016. Oral cancer is the 8th most common cancer in Australia and dental disease has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, stroke and low birth weight babies. 64 dentists per 100,000 people in the cities but only 36 per 100,000 in outer regional areas and just 21 per 100,000 people in remote areas, highlight the scarcity of dentists in remote areas wherein people are required to travel to nearby cities to get their treatment done. The Government offers a Dental Relocation and Infrastructure Support Scheme (DRISS) that pays dentists between AUD 15,000 to AUD 120,000 to relocate to rural areas and Infrastructure Grants up to AUD 370,000. The market for dental services in Australia was about AUD ~ Million in FY’2012 and grew steadily during the period FY’2012-FY’2017 to AUD ~ million in FY’2017. Major drivers of increased patient demand included general improvement in economic conditions, rising income and job security, incline in private health insurance funding and overall dental health and treatment awareness among Australian population.