Many states are expanding their Medicaid programs to provide dental care to their poorest residents
For months, Carlton Clemons endured crippling pain from a rotting wisdom tooth. He couldn’t sleep, barely ate and relied on painkillers to get by.
The 67-year-old from Nashville, Tennessee, could not afford to see a dentist on the $1,300-a-month his family gets in Social Security and disability payments. So he waited for the state to roll out a program this year that offers dental care to the more than 650,000 Medicaid recipients like him who are 21 and older. Tennessee is spending about $75 million annually on the program.
“Man, I thought I had made it to heaven because the pain was over,” he said after the tooth was pulled in July at the Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry. “When they did pull it out, I was so happy. I was so glad. Everything just changed after that.”
Dental care should be included with medical. It's ridiculous that it isn't.
What are you talking about, everyone knows the eyes and the mouth are completely separate entities from the rest of your self.
Teeth are apparently considered luxury bones
Eyes are luxury organs.
I don't even have to look to know that Texas and Florida are not doing it.
We should have universal healthcare at no more cost to the patient. We paid for it so give it to us. No more corporate/billionaire welfare.
All these people who need healthcare but keep complaining that FREE is socialism 🙄
While in college, my wife worked a summer in a local factory. She said what stood out the most was that everyone except the managers had bad teeth.
And Teeth are part of our body. Why it is not part of every health insurance plan is bizarre.