By Steve Pollock, President and Chief Executive
Officer
On April 14, Congress passed a bill which will
ensure that eight million children across the country have continued access to
health insurance by extending funding for the Children’s Health Insurance
Program, or CHIP, for two more years. Just a few days later, President Obama
signed the bill into law. The CHIP program has been a critical source of health
coverage for children and pregnant women who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid
but too little to purchase private health insurance. Without passage of this
bill, CHIP funding would have expired in September, leaving millions of children and
hundreds of thousands of pregnant women without access to comprehensive dental
care.
Since its inception in 1997, CHIP has helped
children receive routine dental care that they may not otherwise have had
access to. To help illustrate its success, a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services found that 80 percent of CHIP enrollees saw a dentist in the
past year, a significantly higher rate of access and use of services than for
children who do not have coverage.
Congress has done a commendable job of
recognizing the need for continued funding to support children’s health
insurance by passing bipartisan legislation to secure its future. This is no
small feat. Health equity advocates around the country are breathing a sigh of
relief knowing that the health and well-being of our children took precedence
over party politics. However, for dental care, we know the battle is not yet
over.
Did you know that 83 million Americans still
face obstacles in receiving dental care each year? Nearly half of all
individuals in a 2013 survey said that over
the previous 12 months they or a family member delayed seeing a dentist because
they could not afford the expected out-of-pocket costs. Unlike medical
insurance, states are not mandated to include adult dental care coverage within
Medicaid programs; it is left up to the state to decide.
As a result, many still do not have access to
dental benefits. And that hurts families. It is difficult for dentists who
treat children with Medicaid or CHIP insurance to turn away parents who have
immediate oral health problems but are uninsured. Dental care contributes to a
person’s health and well-being over their lifespan – childhood through
retirement. Preventive care saves families and taxpayers money by avoiding more
costly interventions later on.
Without adult dental benefits for publicly-funded insurance programs, these 83 million Americans will continue to flood emergency rooms for dental issues and
contribute to the 164 million work hours missed each year due to oral health
problems. And, as recent studies demonstrate, poor
oral health may be increasing the cost of treating chronic diseases like
diabetes, pre-term pregnancy and heart disease. By ensuring that all have
equal access to dental care, we work to improve the lives of millions while
reducing healthcare costs.
Congress took a significant bipartisan step to
ensure access to dental care for children. Now, state and federal leaders
must act to help eliminate barriers for adults so these 83 million Americans
can get the care they need to be healthy and stay that way.