Australians took more than $1.4bn from their super last year for everything from weight loss to dental work | Superannuation

Australians withdrew more than $1.4 billion from their superannuation accounts for compassionate reasons in the last financial year; much of this was used to finance a variety of medical procedures, from dental work to weight-loss treatments.

Of the 112,400 applications for compassionate super access in 2024-25, 93,500 were on medical grounds; this figure was 71,900 the previous year. There has been a particularly sharp increase in applications to use superannuation to fund dental services; this number doubled in two years to 32,875 applications.

To be approved, medical services must be approved by two practitioners and be deemed medically necessary to relieve acute or chronic pain, treat a life-threatening illness or injury, or alleviate acute or chronic mental illness.

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But Justin Untersteiner, chief executive of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), said “some businesses and practitioners are taking advantage of this process to push overly expensive or unnecessary treatments.”

“Society has a natural trust in practitioners, and taking advantage of people in need is never acceptable,” he said. “Any advice about what procedure is required should be given in the patients’ best interests and not be influenced by financial gain or inducements.”

ATO deputy commissioner Emma Rosenzweig said healthcare practitioners and registered agents were inappropriately helping people access pensions, particularly for cosmetic procedures that did not meet compassionate release requirements.

“I want to be clear that compassionate release of pension benefits should only be considered as a last resort, as all other payment options for eligible expenses have been exhausted,” he said.

Ahpra and the Australian Dental and Medical Boards announced on Thursday guidance For doctors and dentists in response to ongoing concerns about inappropriate behavior in encouraging people to achieve retirement.

The document also includes a warning to practitioners that providing financial advice without a license could result in serious penalties from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

“We are seeing practitioners making false statements in medical reports,” Rosenzweig said.

“The ATO trusts medical and dental professionals to act in the best interests of their patients to prepare accurate reports regarding their diagnosis and the required treatment strategy.”

Regulatory actions to date range from warnings and conditions to litigation.

Other penalties apply to individuals, healthcare practitioners, or registered agents who assist in preparing or submitting an application for non-essential healthcare treatments; as this would be considered making a false or misleading statement to the ATO Commissioner.

The “medical” category of charitable retirement leave includes dental, in vitro fertilization and weight loss treatment. There were 13,255 approved claims for weight loss treatments in 2024-25.

Guardian Australia previously reported that some businesses were offering patients “simple” access to pensions to pay for treatment through online adverts, sparking concern from consumer health groups.