With adequate and reliable revenue allocation to the overall well-being of people, the future of oral health benefits for children and adults is promising. Approximately 15 years ago, dental and oral diseases were identified as common silent epidemics experienced by poor Americans and black people. Because of these findings, the American states, in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), passed a healthcare reform law that allowed the inclusion of children from low-income families in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (Kenney, McMorrow, Zuckerman, & Goin, 2012). These programs offer such children both preventive and treatment care for their overall health, including dental services. However, many low-income adults had not been able to access the quality of services that low-income children receive under CHIP and Medicaid until recently. The majority of the adults that are covered by Medicaid are the elderly, due to age limitations, leaving others uninsured. Due to financial constraints, uninsured adults cannot afford fee-for-service to have their oral health needs met. Furthermore, even some of the adults that are lucky to have been included in the Medicaid program have limited benefits, some of them leaving out oral care services.
The inclusion of oral health coverage as a benefit in these programs is a state’s option. Additionally, oral health has not been given enough attention, with some adults and states perceiving it as a minor issue. Following the expansion of the Affordable Care Act, many low-income adults can access various health services, including or excluding oral health (Kenney et al., 2012). With the growing awareness of the importance of dental care, the federal government has invested resources in health centers, enabling them to broaden the scope of their services, including oral health for adults. Many Americans visit these health facilities for access to health services; thus their continued boosting will have a remarkable impact on their overall wellbeing. With adequate revenue for the sustenance of the expansion, the future of oral health benefits for children and adults is promising.
It is interesting that 30-40% of insured folks do not visit a dentist within a year. The number of Americans with private insurance cover has continuously been on a significant decline over the past decade. Many adults and children now have Medicaid or CHIP health covers. However, the low utilization of dental health services among the insured people has been an ongoing issue. The use of dental services is higher among children as compared to adults, especially the working class (Dalstrom, 2013). Besides having a health cover comprising dental benefits, some insured people fail to seek the relevant services because of various reasons. First, some of them have trouble while looking for dentists who accept Medicaid. However, it is not established if the complexity is a result of the scarcity of personnel or lack of knowledge on how to find one.
Traveling costs to a dentist is another factor associated with the poor utilization of dental services. Having a health system with patient navigators will improve the accessibility of the services since they will assist in the arrangement of the travel services of the insured people, book appointments, and link them to dentists who accept Medicaid health cover. Lack of interest is also a major factor influencing the poor dental health access by the insured people (Obeidat, Alsa’di, & Taani, 2014). An individual may not find it necessary to seek the services as a result of changing priorities, improved prevention, and having much work among other reasons. The majority of people do not see the need of visiting a dentist unless they have serious dental or oral health issues. The behavior could also be highly attributed to the perception that dental problems are not fatal or severe.
References
Dalstrom, M. (2013). Medical travel facilitators: Connecting patients and providers in a globalized world. Anthropology & Medicine, 20(1), 24-35.
Kenney, G. M., McMorrow, S., Zuckerman, S., & Goin, D. E. (2012). A decade of health care access declines for adults holds implications for changes in the Affordable Care Act. Health Affairs, 31(5), 899-908.
Obeidat, S. R. A., Alsa’di, A. G., & Taani, D. S. (2014). Factors influencing dental care access in Jordanian adults. BMC Oral Health, 14(1), 127-129.