asked the Minister for Social Welfare if dentists who wish to treat patients under the PRSI dental benefit treatment scheme can only do so by signing the new contract which includes eligibility for spouses for fully insured workers.
39.
Written Answers. - PRSI Dental Benefit Treatment.
36.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of dentists who are on his Department's dental benefit treatment panel at present; and the number who have terminated their contract since the end of January, 1987.
40.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of dentists who have signed the new contract; the number who have since written or otherwise informed his Department that they no longer wish to treat the spouses of insured workers; and if he will give the present position in this regard.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 36, 39 and 40 together.
When the treatment benefit scheme was extended to cover dependent spouses, dentists on the Department's panel were given the option of signing a new contract which included the provision of dental treatment to spouses. Those who did not opt to sign a new contract were allowed to continue providing dental treatment under their existing contract. Any dentist wishing to be admitted to the panel for the first time may only do so by contracting to operate the extended scheme, which includes the treatment of dependent spouses.
The number of active dentists on the Department's dental panel at present is approximately 670. Since 31 January contracts were terminated in respect of 30 dentists by reason of death or retirement. Of these, there were 16 in 1987, ten in 1988 and four to date in 1989.
The number of dentists who have signed the new agreement covering dependent spouses is 191. Eleven dentists indicated that they were no longer willing to treat dependent spouses. I have been informed that one of these has since withdrawn his objection to treating dependent spouses. The contractual position of the remaining dentists is being considered at present. The present position is that some 2,200 claims monthly are being received in respect of dependent spouses, mainly wives. Since the new scheme was introduced some 42,000 such claims have been received and dealt with.
37.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of fully insured workers who were eligible under this Department's PRSI dental benefit treatment scheme in 1988; the number who received such dental treatment; and the fees in total which were paid by his Department to dentists in respect of these.
Information relating to dental treatment is recorded on the basis of claims received from dentists. The fact, however, that a course of treatment may extend over a period of time and that in some cases claims are not made to the Department until the treatment is completed or even later, means that the information available at any time is not complete.
The number of insured persons who were eligible under the social insurance dental benefit scheme in 1988 was approximately 1.08 million. A total of 324,305 claims were received from this category in that year. The total amount paid by the Department to all panel dentists in 1988 in respect of the treatment of insured persons was £11.321 million. Fees paid to dentists ranged from £5 to £101,000 depending on the amount of work which a particular dentist did for insured workers. These figures do not include payments in respect of dependent spouses, for whom a further 26,300 claims were received.
38.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the fee which is paid in all other EC countries which have social welfare or equivalent State funded dental treatment benefit schemes in respect of the following: (a) a single extraction including a local anaesthetic and the normal after-care and (b) a single surface filling including local anaesthetic and after-care.
The only other EC member state for which the information requested is available, is the United Kingdom. The fee for a single extraction in the UK scheme is £7.60 sterling and for a single surface filling £4.80 sterling.