Oral healthcare is taking a hit as persistent issues with Medicaid prevent dental providers from seeing more patients.
In addition to consistently low reimbursement rates, federal funding cuts to Medicaid have dental providers and other stakeholders worried about the future of oral healthcare.
Four recent updates:
1. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order that includes cuts to the state’s Medicaid program. Among the cuts is a $2,500,000 cut to dental rates and a rollback of the state’s 1.6% reimbursement rate increase.
2. Oral Health Ohio Executive Director Marla Morse said she is worried that federal funding cuts could lead the state to remove coverage for adult dental services. Updated eligibility requirements could also lead more individuals to lose their Medicaid coverage.
3. Low reimbursements under Maine’s Medicaid program have forced dentists to limit the number of MaineCare patients they treat, causing children to wait several months for dental care. The Maine Dental Association has estimated that there are thousands of children in the state currently waiting for dental treatment.
4. U.S. Rep Jennifer McClellan visited a nonprofit dental clinic in Virginia to discuss the impact of Medicaid cuts on patient care. Ms. McClellan said she is co-sponsoring legislation to reverse the Medicaid cuts, and that she would be taking stories from her visit back to legislators to show the impact of the cuts.
