In dental school, we learn a lot about access to care, and the obstacles patients face to attain care. Most of us enter dental school and later the workforce with altruistic healthcare provider visions of improving the world and doing what we can to help serve our patients. However, rising student loans and life expenses can be a significant obstacle to providers’ ability to provide care to those on Medicaid insurance.
The literature mostly correlates with higher reimbursement rates resulting in increased provider participation. The reasons generally cited as to why dentists don’t treat patients with this insurance can also include extra credentialing, cumbersome paperwork, and dealing with managed care organizations, to name but a few. No such survey has been carried out in Illinois to my knowledge, however we can assume that the concerns are transferrable.
Illinois’ low reimbursement rate is a real obstacle for dentists, and Illinois dentists need to raise their voices to lobby for reimbursement rates more in line with the private sector so that dentists can afford to treat these patients to improve access to care.
Moreover, increased oversight is required of managed care organizations, and dentists need to voice their concerns to collectively lobby representatives to achieve this. Dentists also need to use their voices to lobby their representatives to support the “Promoting Dental Health Act.” Senator Richard Durbin is a sponsor of this legislation that was introduced earlier this year, which is encouraging. This would reapprove the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Oral Health Program for the following five years.