MEDIA TALKING POINTS RE PROPOSED NC BUDGET CUTS TO ADULT MEDICAID

April 27, 2010

MAIN PREMISE

We believe that every person in North Carolina deserves equal access to good oral health. The proposed cuts to adult Medicaid will deprive many of this level of care and can not only jeopardize their oral health, but their overall health and well-being.

SHORT POINTS

·        Reducing adult Medicaid will put thousands at risk for serious health problems in North Carolina.

·        This change will add to the maldistribution of dental care because it deprives thousands of regular examinations, preventive services, and treatment.

·        Adult Dental Medicaid reimbursement rates in North Carolina are already among the lowest in the country. To now do away with coverage of routine care is unconscionable.

·        It is unfair and wrong to deny equal dental care to all North Carolinians, regardless of economic or social status.

·        Emergency dental care is not a fair health care system.

·        Since the mouth is the gateway to the body, undetected oral problems can lead to deadly, often life-threatening disease. 

·        North Carolina dentists have ramped up efforts to treat Medicaid patients. The proposed budget will undermine these efforts. It will not only adversely affect patients; it will also put people who work in these dental practices out of work.

·        For thousands and thousands of North Carolinians, adult dental Medicaid is their only defense against disease. If your mouth’s not healthy, neither are you.

 

EXPANDED POINTS

·        There are presently a million North Carolinians who are eligible for adult Medicaid. They depend solely on Medicaid for dental care. The proposed cuts in our state budget will deprive them of this needed service that is vital to good health.

 

 

·        There is a troubling inconsistency in this proposed Medicaid cutback. State government officials have been urging dentists to treat more Medicaid patients, which they have done. In fact, many private dental practices have opened to exclusively treat Medicaid recipients. Now, with the proposed shut down of adult Medicaid, many of these clinics will have to close their doors leaving many dental assistants, hygienists and others out of work.

 

·        As proposed in the Governor’s budget, dental Medicaid coverage would be reduced to emergency care only. This is akin to calling the fire department after the house has burned to the ground.

 

·        In emergency dentistry (such as that we are practicing at NCMOM clinics) patients present with large amounts of decay. In other words, the damage is already done. We are simply doing repair work. In such cases, we commonly see advanced dental disease, including severe infections that can lead to tooth loss and/or potentially life-threatening health problems.

 

·        The effect of the proposed Medicaid cutbacks will further reduce dental care for the poor in North Carolina – those without jobs, without health insurance, without the means to pay for care on their own – to emergency, stopgap measures designed to get patients out of pain and out of trouble. This is not a responsible health care solution.