Today’s big topic: Patients are canceling dental appointments because the state has promised to pick up the tab
According to the government platform, the new government will initially set aside four billion kroner through 2030. The money is to be invested in free dental care that, at the outset, is aimed at people on disability pensions and other vulnerable groups.
What’s happening?
The Danish Dental Association is urging the government and the new Minister of Health, in the strongest terms, to move quickly to roll out and spell out the sweeping dental plan that is meant to guarantee Danes free dental care.
Even though the new government’s proposal is riddled with loose ends, more and more patients are canceling their dental appointments because they expect to be able to get the same treatment free of charge in the near future.
That is the message from the Dental Association’s worried chairman, Torben Schønwaldt.
»We’re seeing patients who need a cavity filled or a wisdom tooth removed cancel their appointments. And they justify it by saying they’ve heard the government is promising free dental treatment – even though they haven’t looked into when and how the government intends to make that plan a reality«.
Why it matters!
Putting dental care on hold is a very bad idea.
For one thing, a small cavity can turn into a root canal that can cost ten times as much if it isn’t treated in time. And for another, no one really knows how, when, or how extensive the government’s new dental scheme will actually be.
The chairman’s appeal is first and foremost about getting the public to understand that the government’s promise of free dental care is still just »a bird in the hand«.
And that it could take so long for the new scheme to be in place that even minor damage and dental disease could have time to develop if they aren’t treated.
According to the government platform, the new government will initially set aside four billion kroner through 2030. That money is to be invested in free dental care that, at the outset, is targeted at people on disability pensions and other vulnerable groups.
In 2027, an expert commission is to issue recommendations for a new dental model that is said to be able to extend free dental care to larger groups of the population.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
In other news
– Tax cut of up to 9,500 kroner on the way for seniors
When elections to the Danish Parliament were called at the end of February, a number of legislative proposals fell by the wayside. One of them was set to grant older wage earners who are less than five years from the state pension an additional employment tax deduction as early as this year, amounting to a tax cut of about 800 Danish kroner a month.
Now the minister for taxation and growth, Jakob Engel-Schmidt (Moderaterne, M), has reintroduced the proposal, which is meant to make it more attractive to keep working later in life. In an email, the minister explains that »we are giving seniors up to 9,500 kroner in tax relief to take an extra shift at the workplace«.
– The Army responds to accounts of racism: »Distasteful« and »unacceptable«
Chants about castrating Africans. Boundary-crossing jokes about other religions. And a daily routine of liberal use of the n-word. That is how a former conscript, Isabell Kannegaard Olesen, describes her time in the Army in an opinion piece in Politiken.
In the Army, officials strongly distance themselves from the experiences the former conscript describes in the opinion piece. The service is not making anyone available for an interview, but has sent the following comment by email from the Army’s chief, Major General Peter Boysen: »The examples described are not just distasteful; they are unacceptable and incompatible with the values the Defence and the Army stand for. That is why decisive action was already taken in 2023 to put a stop to this kind of behavior. Among other things, it led to the phasing out of the Armed Forces Songbook«, he writes, referring to the fact that the songbook previously included marching songs with offensive content of both racist and sexist character.
– For the third time in less than a year, a young man has drowned in a gravel-pit lake
Former gravel pits, in particular, can be especially dangerous to swim in, said Erik Bech, who chairs the Council for Greater Bathing and Water Safety, which works, among other things, to reduce the number of drownings in Denmark. Unlike beaches and natural lakes, these kinds of swimming lakes do not have shallow water along the edges. And for gravel-pit lakes, which often have steep banks, it can also be especially difficult to get back out of the water.
Police were called to Lynghøjsøerne at around 9 p.m. Saturday evening after witnesses saw the young man disappear into the water during a swim. But it was not until more than four hours of extensive searching — using both divers and a helicopter — that they found the drowned man. At 1:29 a.m., he was found dead in the water, and the next of kin were notified, police later wrote on the messaging service ’Politi Update’.
Talk of town: He is one of the world’s biggest pop stars. But on Friday night, he looked like someone worried the audience might get bored.
The Weeknd would not allow press photographers at his concert at Parken. That is why we are running a photo from his show in Manchester last week.
The Weeknd looked down at us through the giant video screen and dialed up his best villain charm:
»We’re only just getting started...«.
Another lie.
The Canadian superstar was, at that point, more than an hour and roughly 14 to 16 songs into his concert at Parken. We were halfway through.
And yes, yes, I know, that’s part of an entertainer’s slick patter, but by that point on Friday night, I had long since crossed my personal limit for fake, Las Vegas-style schmoozing.
For most of the night, The Weeknd had been strutting around, pointing out at the crowd between the constant bursts of flame, smiling like an American presidential candidate. Without the atmosphere fully being there yet.
He kept interrupting himself to get people to compete over who could be louder, set off some unprompted fireworks, and said and sang »Copenhagen« so many times that I started to worry about his mental state.
Meanwhile, the concert itself ran on autopilot for long stretches in the background. Like something The Weeknd jumped in and out of (though, to be fair, singing really well all the way through!).
Read the full review of The Weeknd’s concert in Copenhagen here.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.