Dental health advocates want to sink teeth into health care reform

The paper also notes that "closing the gap between the worlds of dental care and medical care, with their separate histories and cultures, and their separate finance and delivery systems would be a formidable task." The paper reports on the inclusion of several dental provisions in the 615-page first draft of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee's health care reform bill. "The draft includes dental care in a list of benefits that children should receive and cites the importance of disease prevention and surveillance, safety net programs, and changes in the dental workforce and public-health infrastructure. Advocates aren't focusing solely on the Senate bill, as there are other, competing bills still to come. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who has emerged as a leading congressional proponent of oral health, is working to keep the issue visible as the House of Representatives crafts its own version." The Washington Post also highlights the 2007 death of a 12-year-old named Deamonte Driver who died from an untreated dental abscess that allowed an infection to spread to his brain. Driver’s case was influential: "The death spurred congressional hearings and gave lawmakers and the public new insights into failings within the Medicaid system charged with providing dental care to millions of poor children. The revelations led to reforms of the system in Maryland.... [and] lead to a successful fight for the inclusion of a dental entitlement for the children of the working poor under the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP. The bill, vetoed twice by then-President George W. Bush, was signed into law this year by President Obama" (Otto, 6/23). This article is republished with kind permission from our friends at The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Copyright 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

(Author: 23. June 2009 23:46)

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