By Steve Pollock, Chief Operating Officer, DentaQuest
The
recent reaction to an enrollment reporting mistake made by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) undermines one of the often-overlooked
successes of the ACA; people now have access to dental coverage and for many,
it is for the first time in their lives.
Late
last month, the Obama administration acknowledged that it inaccurately reported
the total enrollment figure for those in coverage through the Affordable Care
Act’s (ACA) health insurance marketplaces. Bloomberg News reported that the
inaccuracy was due to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
including dental plan enrollments in its final tally. Following the Bloomberg
report, critics of the ACA railed against the Administration and HHS Secretary
Sylvia Burwell sent out the following via her twitter account:
There
is no doubt that data transparency and accuracy is absolutely critical to
measuring the impact of the ACA. Critics and supporters of the ACA alike must
have accurate information. However, it would be wrong to suggest that dental enrollment through the
health insurance marketplaces should not be counted towards painting an
accurate picture of what coverage under the ACA looks.
More
than one million people selected a dental plan through their federal or
state-based marketplace last year. That number is especially significant
considering that:
- Dental coverage is optional for people shopping on the marketplaces (though it was not the intent of the law that it be optional for children) and
- Most people do not have subsidy dollars to help them pay for dental coverage.
For
much too long, access to affordable dental care has been a significant unmet
health need in the US. In 2000, the US Surgeon General referred to the state of
oral health in America as a silent epidemic. Although many in the oral health
community have worked tirelessly to address this oral health crisis, the
situation remains dire:
- Dental disease is the number one chronic illness among children.
- As a country, we spend more on the treatment of dental disease – which is nearly 100 percent preventable – than we do on the treatment of all cancers combined.
- Nationwide, we lose 52 million school hours and 164 million work hours each year due to preventable dental disease.
One of
the most significant barriers to accessing dental care is cost. Dental coverage
significantly reduces the financial barrier to care. The ACA has made
significant progress in addressing this barrier by making affordable dental
coverage options available to consumers in a new and more accessible way. Just
imagine the impact that the marketplaces could have in connecting people to
dental coverage if the Administration opened up the option for dental shopping
to anyone who needed it – not just those looking for medical coverage.
It is a
problem that the reporting of the enrollment reporting snafu cast dental
coverage in a negative light. However, we applaud Secretary Burwell’s call for
a culture of increased transparency within the agency that she oversees. We
need to have clear data on dental coverage as well as medical coverage. It is
for this reason that we, along with the dental insurance industry, have asked
HHS to provide a more detailed analysis of dental enrollment under the ACA.
Oral
health is critical to overall health. We cannot continue to allow oral health
to take the back seat in healthcare. This situation has created an opportunity
to discuss both the need for greater data accuracy AND the success of the ACA
in connecting Americans to dental coverage. It is time to change the
discussion.