After the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme ends

I believe I finally have found the answer to how to get free dentist treatment after the close of the CDDS in December. It is as I suspected all along; unless you're on gov benefits then you will no longer be able to get free dentists, even if you do have a chronic health condition such as HIV. This was the answer I tried to get out of Peter Garrett (my MP) right from the start when they announced the agreement with the Greens and the closer of the CDDS the other month, and all I got back was a couple of form letters saying nothing.

So I got an official letter in the mail from the gov saying the same thing that was on the BGF website, there was a link as well, which I went to and it led me to here, with info about what the gov is doing to improve the dilapidated public dental system:

National Partnership Agreement (NPA) for adult public dental services

The Government will provide $1.3 billion to states and territories from 1 July 2014 under a NPA to expand services for adults in the public dental system. The funding will assist up to 1.4 million low income adults to receive dental services.

This measure builds on the 2012-13 Dental Waiting List NPA, which is focused on treating the 400,000 adults currently on public dental waiting lists.

The NPA will provide longer-term certainty and will allow the public system to move away from a focus on emergency crisis management to prevention and oral health promotion.

The NPA’s deliverables will be customised for each state and territory depending on the demonstrated local needs and progress under the 2012-13 Dental Waiting List NPA.
Link

All very well I guess. So it seems that after the CDDS, this will be what you have to do to get free dentistry; go public. NSW public dentists are run by the area hospitals. I don't know much about them other that there's a big dental hospital in the city. Will have to see my GP I suppose about it all. This is info about the NSW public dentist system:

The range of oral health services provided through the NSW public health system broadly includes dental services to children and adults according to criteria that target emergency situations, those in most need, dental education and oral health promotional services. 

Operationally in NSW these services are delivered by each of the Local Health Districts. 

These services are delivered in dental clinics based in schools, community health centres and hospitals within each Area. The services provided include general dentistry such as examinations, fillings, and dentures. 

There are two teaching hospitals - the Westmead Centre for Oral Health and the Sydney Dental Hospital that also provide specialist services in their clinics and through outreach programs in rural public dental clinics. The specialist services include paediatric dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, endodontics, periodontics.
Link 

Anyway, there are certain conditions that you have to meet to get free dental treatment in the NSW public system. It varies from state to state, so if you're not in NSW you'll have to look up what the particular state you're in requires for eligibility. In NSW it's this:

1. Eligibility of Adults for Non-admitted Oral Health Care Services

For an adult to be eligible for free public oral health services they must:

• Be normally resident within the boundary of the providing Area Health Service, and; 􀂃 Be eligible for Medicare, and; 

• Be 18 years of age or older, and; 

• Hold, or be listed as a dependent on, one of the following valid Australian Government concession cards: 

⇒ Health Care Card
⇒ Pensioner Concession Card
⇒ Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. 

Note that holders of the State Seniors Card are not eligible for care unless they also hold one of the other concession cards listed above.
Link

(*A PDF file, and that bit's way down on page 5)

So there it all is. If I was still working 3 days a week I'd have to pay. Well I just hope they've managed to inject some life into the public system with all that new money they're throwing at it.