There is a saying in political circles, “There are two things you do not want to watch being made—sausage and laws.”
The health care reform debate certainly has not been an easy process to watch or to understand. No one would suspect from what is being talked about in the press or on the Senate floor that dental coverage will be impacted. But a fix is needed so that 31 million Americans now provided stand-alone dental coverage through small employers can keep their kids covered under those policies.
The 2000+ page Senate “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” is a step in the right direction to allowing Americans access to the separate dental coverage they have today. The act now partially incorporates a Senate Finance Committee’s amendment allowing separate dental coverage to meet the mandated children’s dental benefits inside the Exchanges when purchased with medical coverage meeting all other essential benefit requirements (Whew! That was a mouthful!). But what is not included is the part of the Senate Finance Committee’s amendment that provided the essential benefits purchased by individuals and small employers outside the Exchange to be offered the same way, i.e. through a separate dental and medical policy.
As a result, uninsured consumers can get stand-alone dental coverage through the new Exchanges to cover their children. But, those with dental coverage through a small employer outside the Exchanges can’t keep their children covered under their family dental policies. What sense does that make?
Senators’ Stabenow (MI) and Lincoln (LA) offered the amendment in Senate Finance. And it was adopted with unanimous bipartisan support. So, it makes no sense that the language of the amendment was not incorporated in bill on the Senate floor.
If you are employed in a company with less than 50 employees and have dental benefits, tell your Senator that you “want to keep your children covered under your dental policy.” Ask them to tell Senator Reid to work with Senators Stabenow and Lincoln to allow you to keep your coverage.
So Thursday started with a call from CNBC’s Street Signs program to talk about the impact of health reform on dental benefits. A call from a TV program was a first for me. I was energized, but it was also scary. After all, what woman wants to go on television with no notice? Well, at least I wore a jacket I thought and returned the call.
Three hours later, I was sitting in a sound proof booth looking at a camera with two “googley eyes” (like the ones on that stack of money you’ll save with Geico) trying to image the people that were talking in my ear as they sat in New York and California.
Of course, I looked like a deer in the headlights, but did remember a few key points.
Health reform requires children’s dental coverage to be included in medical insurance. For 132 million Americans with family dental benefits that means they can’t keep their kids under their dental coverage.
Some 40 million kids will be pulled out of their parents dental policies and covered under a medical plan with no guarantee that the dentist they now see will be in the medical plan or that the benefits will be as robust as they are under dental policies.
Medical insurers don’t cover dental benefits today so they will have to build or buy systems that dental insurers have now. That means more cost for the same or less dental coverage.
And there’s a trickle-down effect on adults. Because households without children are 60% less likely to have dental coverage, there could be a significant reduction in adults with coverage. And since adults without coverage don’t see the dentist as often, their oral health will suffer.
Of course there were many things that we couldn’t get to. Maybe I can add them to the next 4 minute interview, but– with better make-up and clothes .
Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, is a mother of two and Executive Director of the National Association of Dental Plans. She is recognized as an expert in the insurance industry by ‘Insurance Newscast Expert.’
I’ve been listening to a lot of health care reform town halls lately.
On Sunday, I was listening to the radio when another Senator repeated the promise that “Americans can keep their current coverage and doctors.” I found myself screaming at the radio, “just not your dental or vision coverage!” Aware my outburst did nothing beyond frighten the other drivers on the road; I knew I had to take to the blogosphere.
I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I have devoted a lot of resources to figuring out how the 1000’s of pages of health care reform bills work. I know there are unexpected surprises in these bills that Americans should know about. Whenever I share what I know with my family and friends, they say “Really? Why?”
Now I want to know what you think about 3 things the House version of health care reform will do:
If you are one of the 132 million Americans with dental benefits for you and your kids, you won’t be able to keep your kids under your dental benefits policy with your coverage. This means your children won’t have the same policy, and may have a different dentist. (Same goes for vision if you have vision coverage).
If you don’t have kids, you will pay for dental and vision coverage for kids up to age 21 as part of your medical policy.
You will pay more for the dental part of your health coverage than you do today.
What do you think?
Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, is a mother of two and Executive Director of the National Association of Dental Plans. She is recognized as an expert in the insurance industry by ‘Insurance Newscast Expert.’
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Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, is a mother of two and Executive Director of the National Association of Dental Plans. She is recognized as an expert in the insurance industry by ‘Insurance Newscast Expert.’
Evelyn F. Ireland, CAE, is a mother of two and Executive Director of the National Association of Dental Plans. She is recognized as an expert in the insurance industry by ‘Insurance Newscast Expert.’
