Steve I have to agree with you on this.

Teeth as it may be are a health problem and it is getting worse.

We find that these pollies dont really care why should they they would have private care.
No teeth cant eat unless one would call slurping or using a spoon on some type of mashed up meal.
It has come to a stage where it is an epidemic due to dental problems.
Just because you do not have a problem now doesnt mean you wont, unless you already have false teeth.

I can find the money easily from government but they wont like it.

Pollies have forgotton the following.

Ask not what your country can do for you
But what you can do for your country

Its already here.

I worked hard to get my quals, to get a good job and build myself a career. But the costs of living in this country at this time have gone stupid. I used to see a dentist every 18 months or so, but have have not been for at least 5 years now. I just cant afford to go, the cost of housing, food, fuel, taxes and simply living have erroded my $ to the point of being now Neg $250 a fortnight. Thats right, dipping into credit card debt to the tune of -$500 a month just to eat, sleep, and get to work.

Leigh"I confirm my previous comments about you. And don’t claim that you don’t believe in censorship. You have called for it in 2 posts at least."
My desire to be able to screen your comments is based on your own statements, as quoted somewhere above. I have made no similar statements myself. And no, that's not censorship. Censorship is when I want the forum to block your comments from everyone. That is not in my interest. I hate to spell out bs like this, but your obstinacy forces it. Do you even read what people write?

Leigh"Now, if others think I am wrong, that’s fine; but I’m not going to keep banging my head against the wall."
Irony ftl... -_-

Steel,
Leigh forgets we live in a democracy.

Stryker, welcome.
Indeed, many people are, unfortunately, in the same position as you are.
Not only low-incomers and pensioners cannot afford to go to the dentist, but every hard working middle income earners with a car and a house can barely scape by.

We took out private health insurance years ago because we could afford it, but for the past few years we've been paying for it by taking it out of our mortgage so that our family of 4 can go for our yearly check-ups and cleaning of our teeth and have this safety net behind us.
We wouldn't have been able to afford private health cover if we hadn't bought our own home or if there hadn't been a property boom.
I wonder if we're doing the right thing; it's a substantial amount of money and if you count the interest (because we borrow the health cover fees) on top of it, I wonder if it's all worth it.

It's not surprising that many people cannot afford health insurance. I'm not sure if we can keep doing this- keep borrowing to pay for health insurance. There are always gaps as well!

Generally, we have an inequal health system, based on capitalism. It's totally unfair and "sick" that sick poor people are being pushed down the line on the waiting list by other sick people who just have a little more money.

BTW, now we're on the topic,
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20925436-29277,00.html
What do people think of Rudd's offer of free dental care?

I wonder what he imagines needs to magically be done to practically materialise this idea- there are about half a million patients who've been waiting for years to be treated already; are there sufficient trained dentists to cope with this stream of patients as well as the new low incomers and pensioners? It will be no quick solution, of course- is it likely to work long term?

Does it matter

What is your opinion of Labor

What is your opinion of Liberals

What is your opinion of Rudd

What is your opinion of Howard

Now these are questions you must ask.

Can they be trusted
Do you really believe them
if so can pigs really fly

are they just saying what you want to hear
are they really going to make good on their promise

I had health insurance when I was responsible for my children. When my children became responsible for themselves, I stopped the health insurance.

I have motor vehicle insurance. Because I have a good driving record I have been on maximum no claims bonus for as long as I can remember. I have home and contents insurance. Because my home has deadlocks and an alarm system, I get a good discount. I think that most of us would accept this discount system as fair and equitable.

When I was working full time and had other responsibilities, I had term life assurance. In other words, my life was insured but there was no built-in lump sum payment at age ??, if I survived until then. This type of insurance is relatively cheap and, in my opinion, represents far better value than "whole of life". Because I am a lifetime non-smoker, I got 40% discount on my premium. Yes, you read it correctly, 40%.

My sporting interests at that time included spearfishing and [social level] triathlon, both allegedly involving some degree of danger. As a then subbie in the building trade, I was also working on roofs. These things counted for nothing in the calculation of my premium, so presumably they were of little or no significance when it came to actual risk assessment.

But we can't get any discount on health insurance, because successive Australian governments will not allow it. So my health premium, if I had chosen to have it, would have lumped me in as an equal risk to the heavy smoking, heavy drinking, consistent junk food eating chronically unfit, [due to their own lifestyle choices], couch potatoes.

cont