Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Health, upon notice, on 9 October 2012:

Since the introduction of the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme:

(1) By electorate:

(a) what is the total number of people who have used the scheme, including a breakdown by month; and

(b) how many times has the scheme been used, including a breakdown by month.

(2) Until 30 September 2012, what has been the national monthly usage of the scheme, noting that patients who have not received the relevant general practitioner care planning items prior to 8 September 2012 will not be able to access the scheme from 8 September 2012 and prior to 1 December 2012.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Health has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The Department of Health and Ageing does not hold this data.

(2) The below table shows the number of services and benefits paid by month under the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme since commencement (1 November 2007 to 30 September 2012).

1 Based on the date the claim was processed through Medicare.

2 A 'service' is a Medicare item number. Each visit to the dentist may result in many individual 'services' being billed.