Dental plan needs serious reworking

2/28/07
It's hard enough being poor. Besides the struggle to pay bills and stay warm, there are the indignities that go along with accepting government assistance for basic services, including health care. And as dentists around the state report, a program that is supposed to provide affordable dental care for poor children through the state's HUSKY program is falling short on all levels.

For starters, the state dramatically overestimates the number of participating providers; advocates say fewer than 100 in the entire state are able to accept the low-income patients. This leads to months of waiting for an appointment, as more than 250,000 eligible children vie for attention. Then, once an appointment is secured, there's the matter of reaching the dentist's office, as they are spread throughout the state, and Connecticut is not known for its friendliness to mass transit.

The result is a rich state with thousands of poor children who lack basic oral health care. Years pass between cleanings and checkups, small problems fester into larger ones and soon the easily, cheaply preventable medical issue turns into a prohibitively expensive debacle.

It is within the Legislature's power to do something. Because of the comparatively low rate of reimbursement the state provides participating dentists, few can even afford to accept patients through HUSKY, the Medicaid-sponsored, joint state and federal health care program for poor children. The rate is the lowest in New England, and in the lower half among all 50 states — a shameful statistic in an area of wealth.

A push for legislation last year went nowhere, but it's past time for the Assembly to act. Community clinics are overburdened, and emergency room visits for preventable dental crises make no financial sense. The Legislature should raise the reimbursement rate for dentists so they can afford to see poor patients and still pay their bills and operate a practice. Further, the rate should be tied to a cost-of-living scale so the issue does not need to be revisited every few years.

In a case like this, preventive measures are not only cheaper but much less painful for the patient. It's time to make the state dental program work in real life, not just on paper.