Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to put to members an example of a tremendous Australian who has suffered and survived cancer of the jaw. This person’s experience also demonstrates what treatment people can receive at the hands of our health system in terms of Medicare, private health insurance and complementary systems. Marta Edmonds has survived cancer through various surgical procedures, including the removal and replacement of a part of her jaw bone and teeth. The replacement jaw bone was taken from her hip. Such operations, including affixing teeth and bringing Marta back to the point of normal jaw usage, are something I find almost miraculous.

Operations to reconstruct Marta’s face and mouth are ongoing. Radiotherapy has caused those teeth not removed in surgery to require replacement by implants as part of the reconstruction process. Initial treatment in mid-1999 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital was covered by Medicare and her private medical insurance. Subsequent and ongoing treatment through Craniofacial Australia, however, needed to be covered by Marta herself. This work included orthodontic work, dental implants and other care. Costs incurred by Marta for dental work for the financial years of 2001-02 onwards are in the order of $4,000, $1,000, $10,000 and, again, $10,000 respectively. GP, surgery and other costs are in addition to these amounts that I have just  mentioned. Through this period, Marta and her GP and dentist have sought assistance from Medicare, but each approach has been unsuccessful.

I wrote to the Minister for Health and Ageing and received a response from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing advising me that Medicare does provide assistance to people undergoing reconstructive procedures performed by approved dental surgeons. He also informed me that some allied health services, including some dental services, are covered. Additionally, an item exists to support access for patients with a chronic or complex condition and significant dental problems which are related to the illness and increase the risk of it becoming more serious, according to the parliamentary secretary’s letter. However, both Marta’s doctor and dentist have been unable to access any support from Medicare for Marta’s ongoing cancer condition—that is, the reconstructive surgery that is required to restore her to pre-cancer health. This is something that I find perplexing at best, and an absolute horror for those in such situations at worst.

I suggest this to be a perfect case for the engagement of a Commonwealth dental scheme. I have spoken about this on many occasions, but clearly there is a need for additional dental assistance for people, whether they be people who are on Centrelink benefits, people who are below the poverty line, people who are in need of emergency treatment or people such as Marta who have a need that could neither be clearer nor be regarded as anything but absolutely necessary. If Medicare can help people through the destruction or surgical removal of cancer—treatment that itself can turn a person’s teeth to dust—and if Medicare cannot currently help that person with remedial work then what greater use could there be for a Commonwealth dental scheme? I implore the minister and the parliamentary secretary to the minister to consider the plight of Marta and those in similar need, abandon the absurd argument that dental services are not listed in section 51 of the Constitution, and provide assistance, through any scheme they like, to improve such people’s dental—that is, health—prospects.

I hope that the real situation regarding access to Medicare assistance is better than I have represented here. All accounts suggest that it is not. I hope that, with the assistance of the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing and their department, we as a nation can find a way of providing more help to people in Marta’s situation.

Marta is still undergoing reconstructive procedures, including teeth implants. I understand that such treatment will be ongoing for some time to come. Yet, throughout this experience, she has been able to continue to work as a project manager for a management services company and has even contributed as a volunteer to the Cancer Council of South Australia and the Friends of the Cranio-Maxillo Facial Foundation. As seen in her life with her husband, friends and work colleagues, Marta has certainly beaten cancer. She is one of the greatest examples I have encountered of perseverance in the face of shocking and ongoing adversity. I hope that we as a nation can find a way of providing her with the assistance to which she should be unreservedly entitled.