I Need Dental Benefits » oral health

What questions and concerns do you have about health care reform and your oral health?

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:49:46 +0000

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A Fix Needed in Senate Health Reform Bill for Consumers to Keep Dental Coverage

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:48:58 +0000

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.

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Oral Health Reform

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:23:59 +0000

Like most of you I have been consumed by my own priorities since the last post in mid-September—mostly work. And there is both good news and bad news to report for oral health.

The Good News (always first, right?)—The Senate Finance Committee unanimously agreed that you should be able to keep your kids in your dental plan with you. They also agreed that Americans who are getting coverage through the Exchange should be able to buy a separate dental plan for their kids focused on oral health coverage if they want t0. So S 1796 will let you keep your dental coverage and dentist.

The Bad News—The House version of health reform that came out last week—HR 3962—dropped an amendment that protected the separate family dental policies of 132 million Americans. Our last ditch efforts to get the provision restored before the bill comes to the floor for a vote this Friday failed.

The Ugly News: Bottom line, if the House bill is the one to pass, 45 million kids covered on their family dental policies will be stripped from their parents’ policies and put into their medical plan. And there is no guarantee that the medical plan will include the dentist your kids now see.

So, today I am bummed as the promise that “you can keep our coverage and providers” is in jeopardy when it comes to your dental plans.

What can you do to help prevent this from happening? It’s a simple 2-step process.

Find your members of Congress
Tell them you want to keep your family dental coverage

Do your part to keep family dental coverage under dental coverage.

It’s not a promotion, it’s a demotion in benefits. . .

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:43:10 +0000

So, this morning I read that health policy costs went up 133% over the last 10 years, yikes! During that same time dental plan costs rose less than 40%–on average 4% to 5% in the last few years. In fact dental premiums went down this year for employee only. So why does Congress want to put children’s dental coverage under a health plan? Lower cost? More coverage?

97% of the dental benefits today are separate policies of coverage through carriers that specialize in dental. When a medical plan has to build or buy the capacity to cover dental—that’s just more cost they will pass onto us!

The top medical plan that covers federal employees has a skinny dental benefit—paying $22 for an office visit. Dental plans pay 100% for preventive office visits and the x-rays, cleanings, sealants and fluoride that my kids and I need. So my daughter who is still at college and on my dental plan will be shifted to the new medical plan and probably have less dental coverage than I have.

Oh, and that promise you can keep your dentist—you get no guarantee that the dentist your family sees now will be part of the medical plan covering your kids.

The promise that Americans can keep their coverage and providers is broken when it comes to our dental benefits.

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.’