Budget 2010 Revisited - abolition of the PRSI scheme for dental and optical services

I heard Eamon Keane talking about the abolition of the PRSI scheme for dental and optical services on Newstalk earlier today and I was reminded how the poorest in society are being made suffer (yet again) under this Government.

The FF/Green Government announced that from January 1st, 2010 treatment available under the optical and dental treatment benefit schemes will be limited. These schemes had previously provided a number of different types of optical and dental treatment including: Dental examination, Diagnosis, Scaling & Polishing (including mild gum treatment). These treatments were available under the PRSI scheme and were thus not free.

Both the optical and dental schemes have played a highly significant role in improving the health of ordinary people nationwide. They have ensured that the optical and dental well-being of people has improved greatly over the past two decades.

Lets have a closer look at the optical scheme. Approximately 200,000 people benefited from the scheme on an annual basis at a cost of just €15 million to the Exchequer. Consequently, no major saving is involved in abolishing it. It is a minor and unnecessary saving in the grand scheme of things, when one considers the type of savings that were being found in the most recent budgets, and the amount of money being put into the banks. Similarly, with regard to the dental scheme, it is estimated that in 2008, 400,000 patients presented under the PRSI scheme for approximately 1.5 million dental treatments at an estimated cost of approximately €100 million. Consequently, in the grand scheme of things, the savings achieved are extremely small when compared with the benefit that was derived from the operation of such schemes.

So the poorest in society suffer yet again under this Government. Are these minuscule savings really worth sacrificing the health of the nation for?