Although the Affordable Care Act includes pediatric
dental care in its “essential health benefits” package, the implementation is
confusing, leaving families in most states unsure of their options and more
importantly, impeding children from receiving much needed oral healthcare.
DentaQuest president and CEO Fay Donohue discussed the issue
with NPR’s
Julie Rovner today, highlighting the problems some
Americans face when searching for dental insurance for their children, and why
it is important for all children to receive coverage.
“‘In
some states, for example — a Maryland or a Massachusetts — you
can go onto the exchange and shop just for dental," Donohue says,
"and are able to pick a dental plan for yourself that makes sense and is
an easy experience."
In other states, she says,
"it is extremely difficult, and in others, pretty impossible."
That's
not just a problem for the bottom line of dental firms, Donahue says. Unmet
oral health needs — particularly those of children — are a serious health
problem. It's estimated that 1 in 10 children from low-income families is in pain from untreated dental problems.
"How can you go to
school and learn anything when you're in pain?" Donahue asks. "If you
care about education, you've got to care about oral health."
That difficulty in finding
plans extends to adults, too. Under the health law, any adult who doesn't have
dental coverage should, theoretically, be able to just go to the exchange and
buy a plan.
But Donohue says that's not
always happening, either. "In some [states], you can," she says.
"In some, you can only buy dental if you've already purchased a medical.
And in some, they're not there at all."