Medical Card Holders to suffer more Extractions
Medical card holders face the prospect of a return to 1950s dentistry and will have to endure painful tooth extractions so that the Irish government can save money, reports Eilish O’Regan, Health Correspondent for the Irish Independent newspaper.
She says that the move comes in the wake of cuts of up to €40m in the Health Service Executive (HSE) funding for treating medical card holders this year. Dentists are to be given strict instructions on how to treat medical card holders. In a letter to the Department of Health, senior HSE executive Laverne McGuinness said that treatments such as fillings and root canals could only be approved in “emergency circumstances”. Dentists have warned that this means more teeth will be extracted, because it’s cheaper. Procedures for treating gum disease are also being suspended, except in specific cases.
The Irish Dental Association said these developments would see the state of dentistry for many medical card holders return “to the 1950s”, when teeth had to be extracted because it was the cheapest option. The association estimated that cuts of between €30m and €40m in HSE funding for the medical card scheme would lead to hundreds of patients being denied essential treatment. Fintan Hourihan, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association, said the cuts would also affect children under 16 years of age and special-needs patients.
She says that the move comes in the wake of cuts of up to €40m in the Health Service Executive (HSE) funding for treating medical card holders this year. Dentists are to be given strict instructions on how to treat medical card holders. In a letter to the Department of Health, senior HSE executive Laverne McGuinness said that treatments such as fillings and root canals could only be approved in “emergency circumstances”. Dentists have warned that this means more teeth will be extracted, because it’s cheaper. Procedures for treating gum disease are also being suspended, except in specific cases.
The Irish Dental Association said these developments would see the state of dentistry for many medical card holders return “to the 1950s”, when teeth had to be extracted because it was the cheapest option. The association estimated that cuts of between €30m and €40m in HSE funding for the medical card scheme would lead to hundreds of patients being denied essential treatment. Fintan Hourihan, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association, said the cuts would also affect children under 16 years of age and special-needs patients.
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