TAXPAYERS were warned last night that they have just days left to claim free and discounted dental treatments following stringent cuts to PRSI benefits in last week's Budget.

From next month almost two million people covered by PRSI (pay related social insurance) will no longer be entitled to free dental treatment, or spectacles, from next year.

But anyone who contacts their dentist or optician before the end of the year and can establish that they qualify under the PRSI scheme will be able to get free or discounted treatments. This will be the case even if the appointment takes place in the first three months of next year.

Chief executive of the Irish Dental Association Fintan Hourihan said from next January 1 eligible patients will only be entitled to a free check-up.

Under the existing system, workers with sufficient PRSI payments can claim two free dental check-ups a year, a teeth-cleaning session and subsidies towards a range of treatments.

Patients can also get discounts on fillings, extractions, root-canal work or dentures.

But a scale and polish can vary from €80 to €140 if you have to pay the full-market cost. A filling can cost between €60 and €180, and an extraction €50 to €150.

The dentists' body said that the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which administers the PRSI scheme, has promised to honour the terms of the PRSI scheme until the end of the year for eligible taxpayers.

Appointments

This means that appointments arranged before the end of the year, for those who are eligible, will be covered even if the appointment takes place up to March in the new year.

Mr Hourihan warned: "Your benefits will be lost if you do not confirm your eligibility prior to January 1, 2010.

"It is therefore essential if you think you have made sufficient PRSI contributions that you contact your dentist before December 31."

The Irish Dental Association has argued that the dental healthcare scheme built up over 50 years had been effectively wiped out in the Budget.

Spokeswoman for the Association of Optometrists Ireland Lynda McGivney-Nolan said people who have an application approved for glasses will be eligible to get them under PRSI for three months of next year.

People with sufficient PRSI payments can get free glasses as long as they only want a standard frame. For those who want expensive frames, PRSI will cover €42 towards the costs.

She said older people whose sight deteriorates as they get older, will lose out, despite paying PRSI all their lives. Studies indicate that in excess of 30,000 adults in Ireland are living with significant sight loss, Ms McGivney-Nolan said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs said last night: "Only those patients who by the year -end have confirmed appointments to see their dentists will have their eligibility considered under existing rules.

"Customers applying on or after January 1, 2010, will have their claim processed under the revised conditions."

The winding down of the benefits for taxpayers under the PRSI scheme comes as new figures show that the numbers of people with private health insurance have reduced by over 40,000 in 2009.

And the number forced to cancel their policies is likely to increase in 2010, the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children was told yesterday.

Irish Independent