Rødt’s parliamentary representative Seher Aydar asks the government to take action and ensure better public funding of dental health in Norway.
She reacts strongly after the Salvation Army’s Belinda Andersen told NRK’s ”The Debate” how they had seen themselves forced to take the dental bill from a single mother who was waiting for Nav’s measures for benefits.
– It is absolutely heartbreaking that a single mother has to live with pain, and that she is tossed back and forth without knowing whether she will get help. Here the Salvation Army must have thought that the situation was so urgent that they had to help, she says and calls the story sad and painful, says Aydar to Nettavisen.
Aydar believes that the wallet determines who has the opportunity to go to the dentist when the need arises, and that it is particularly important now, at a time when more and more people cannot afford it.
– I am cursed on behalf of everyone who lives with pain and suffering because they cannot pay the dental bill. I am impatient on their behalf, and expect the government to do what they say they will do, which is to equate the teeth with the rest of the body.
To equate the teeth with the rest of the body, there is a majority in the Storting, among the governing parties the Labor Party and the Center Party, which has support in Red and SV.
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– But you can apply for support from Nav for dental health services, if you can’t afford it?
– Many people do not get it covered, and it is an eye of a needle that you have to get through. First you have to go to Nav, and then to the dentist. It takes quite a long time, says Aydar.
Rødt will raise the money to finance dental health by increasing corporation tax, and in their alternative state budget for 2023, they proposed to increase this by one per cent, from 22 to 23 per cent.
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Corporation tax, however, remained unchanged in the government’s adopted state budget. However, Aydar believes that Rødt’s wish to the government is not unreasonable.
– We are not asking for anything radical. We will get it back to that level it was on last time The Labor Party was in government. They must not do anything other than what they have done before, says Aydar, who believes that the government can start work as early as next year.
Vedum: Not relevant to raise corporation tax
The Minister of Finance, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, responds as follows to questions from Nettavisen about whether it might be relevant for the government to raise the current corporation tax, or other taxes, in order to be able to pay for dental health and dental care to a greater extent:
– The government has taken clear measures to strengthen dental health. Among other things, we have introduced a 50 per cent discount for 21 and 22-year-olds, and we have strengthened the reimbursement scheme for children and young people who receive orthodontics. Increasing corporation tax is not relevant.
Vedum continues:
– The government has been, and still is, clear that we must pursue a predictable and responsible tax policy towards business and keep corporation tax at 22 per cent throughout the parliamentary period. This is also completely in line with the tax settlement which was concluded with the support of both the Center Party and the Labor Party in addition to four other parties in the Storting.
– We are well underway
State Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Care, Ellen Rønning-Arnesen (Ap), does not want to be interviewed about the case, but responds to Nettavisen’s inquiry in writing:
– This government has started work on strengthening the public dental health service. Over half a billion kroner is added to our budgets, among other things through a settlement with writer Rønning-Arnesen for Nettavisen.
And adds:
– We are well underway to deliver on the Hurdal platform’s points regarding a gradual expansion, which aims to bring it on a par with other healthcare services.
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– What stands in the way of dental health being largely covered by the public sector, as is the case with injuries to other parts of the body?
– We want a gradual expansion of the public dental health service on the basis of a solid decision-making basis. That is why we have appointed a public committee that will review the dental health field. It has been almost 20 years since this was last done. The committee must deliver its report by June 2024. The committee’s recommendations will be important in our further work to strengthen the dental health service.
The State Secretary also allows himself to be influenced by the story that the Salvation Army told at the Debate last week.
– It makes an impression to see such features as presented by NRK. The teeth are part of the body. It is a political goal for us that it should also be reflected in the way the dental health service is organized and financed.
Professor launches solution
Steinar Westin is a doctor and professor emeritus of social medicine at NTNU in Trondheim. He says that for a long time there has been a tradition of people having to pay for dental treatment themselves.
Westin believes that unpredictable costs related to dental health have contributed to the situation as it is. However, he doesn’t know why the arrangement was like this to begin with.
– Some want expenses of several hundred thousand, while others only have to drill a few holes. The fact that it is unpredictable how much will be reimbursed is one of the reasons why dental health has been kept outside the concept of health, says Westin to Nettavisen.
The seasoned academic is simultaneously launching his own draft of a public funding model.
Westin believes it is problematic if someone cannot go to the dentist for financial reasons.
– My proposal is that you get a refund up to a certain amount, he says.
