Australians have raided more than half-a-billion dollars from their retirement funds in the last financial year to cover the cost of dental care. It's a staggering, almost 700 per cent increase in five years according to the new figures from the Australian Tax Office.
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00:00Well, almost 22,000 Australians accessed their superannuation early in the last year to cover
00:08the cost of dental care, and that was to the tune of around $526 million.
00:13Now, to put that into perspective, in the 2018-2019 financial year, that figure was
00:20around $66.5 million, so the ATO there has recorded an almost 700% increase in the amount
00:29that people are accessing their super to be able to cover the cost of dental care.
00:34Now, of course, people are able to access their super early in certain circumstances,
00:40and that does include for medical care, but this has, of course, raised questions again
00:46about the inclusion of dental in Medicare.
00:50We heard during the week from Green Senator Jordan Steelejohn at Senate Estimates pushing
00:55the notion of universal dental care to be included in Medicare.
01:01The financial minister, Katie Gallaher, did water down those suggestions, ruling out the
01:08idea of universal dental care, but saying that the government is working with the states
01:13and territories to develop a national oral health care plan over the next 10 years, but
01:21certainly shutting down those suggestions of universal dental care.