Madam, – The cynical media campaign waged by the Department of Social and Family Affairs seeking to demonise dentists cannot be left unchallenged.
The smokescreen raised by the department is too easily seen through as nothing more than an attempt to confuse and distract up to two million taxpayers and their dependants from taking steps to hang on to their dental benefits. These benefits are being removed from January 1st even though working people will contribute up to €53 per week in PRSI contributions.
In the Budget the Government announced that, from next year, people paying PRSI will be entitled only to a free dental check-up and will no longer receive significant discounts on fillings, extractions, root canal work or dentures. Time is running out, so patients need to make immediate contact with their dentist to ensure their eligibility is confirmed by December 31st. As long as the appointment is made during this year, then patients can avail of existing PRSI dental benefits for treatments undertaken, even if those treatments do not occur until early next year.
The chaos that the department is currently struggling to cope with is a direct consequence of deciding to withdraw dental benefits at three weeks’ notice.
Many dentists were only notified of these changes almost two weeks after Budget day. The department has failed to offer any advice to patients, in contrast to the Irish Dental Association, which has undertaken an extensive public relations and advertising campaign to warn patients of the impending deadline for claiming their benefits.
At all times the association has advised its members to provide full and accurate information to the department in seeking to establish the entitlement of their patients to treatment benefit. Without exception dentists can only be paid for dental treatment provided and there is no circumstance in which payment can be made unless work is carried out.
The department is perfectly entitled to investigate any submissions made on behalf of their patients by dentists, although readers may be interested to know that the department recently confirmed that 99.96 per cent of claims made by dentists participating in the dental treatment benefit scheme were entirely appropriate and valid.
After the Budget, the association said the Government move was “a serious mistake which will penalise many people including tens of thousands who have been paying this PRSI for years”. The association will be campaigning for the immediate restoration of this important scheme over the next year. In the meantime, people should not be distracted from taking steps to retain their dental benefits. – Yours, etc,