Katrina vanden Heuvel: The Hidden Healthcare Crisis

from The Nation:



BLOG | Posted 01/18/2008 @ 9:12pm
The Hidden Healthcare Crisis


Last Spring, following the death of twelve-year old Deamonte Driver of Maryland whose untreated tooth infection spread to his brain, I wrote about the national epidemic of dental disease and the lack of access to dental care faced by the poor and working class. Last month, an article in the New York Times painted a horrifying picture of the state of dental care, where bootleggers sell dentures that would otherwise be unaffordable to many people missing teeth; where low Medicaid reimbursement rates perpetuate a dearth of participating dentists; where untreated cavities are a leading cause of kids missing school, people use Krazy Glue to reattach broken teeth, or swish rubbing alcohol to treat an infection, "burning the gums and creating ulcers."

Currently, Medicaid only covers pulling teeth to treat infections – not root canals or dentures – which can certainly dim the job prospects for someone trying to earn a living in our economy.

"Try finding work when you're in your 30s or 40s and you're missing front teeth," Jane Stephenson, founder of the New Opportunity School in Berea, Kentucky told the Times.

According to Maryland Senator Ben Cardin's staff, dental decay is now the most common chronic childhood disease in the US, affecting twenty percent of children aged 2 to 4, fifty percent of those aged 6 to 8, and nearly sixty percent of fifteen year olds. It is five times more common than asthma among school age children, and nearly 40 percent of African-American children have untreated tooth decay in their adult teeth. Improper hygiene can increase a child's adult risk of having low birth-weight babies, developing heart disease, or suffering a stroke. Eighty percent of all dental problems are found in just 25 percent of children, primarily those from lower-income families.

In March, in response to Driver's death, Cardin cosponsored the Children's Dental Health Improvement Act of 2007 along with Senator Jeff Bingaman, who had pushed similar legislation for seven years. The bill called for $40 million annually for five years to help community health centers hire dentists to serve poor children. It also would have awarded $50 million in grants to help states improve dental services to children enrolled in Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). At the time, Cardin said on the Senate floor: "It is outrageous today that in America, a young boy can die because his family can't find a dentist to remove an infected tooth. It is not enough simply to mourn Deamonte's death. We must learn from this failure of our health-care system and take action to make sure it never happens again." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=272603

I think we were lucky to find a medicaid-accepting dentist this morning that will see him on Feb. 15, or earlier if they have any cancellations.

Now to keep him from running out of pain meds before then...

Enrolled With The Company In Maryland Have Not Seen A Dentist In 4+ Years; Few Dentists in Company’s Network Actually Serve Children

http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1563

"After publicly disputing a Congressional Committee’s finding of thousands of Medicaid enrolled children in Maryland who were not getting dental care to which they were entitled, UnitedHealth Group conceded the accuracy of that and other findings made by the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a letter the company sent to Chairman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

“We have reviewed the October 2 letter, and we concur with the Majority staff’s findings,” the UnitedHealth letter states.

Following a seven-month investigation into the death of 12-year old Deamonte Driver, who died of a brain infection caused by tooth decay, and the review of thousands of records produced by United HealthCare, the Domestic Policy Subcommittee issued findings in an October 2, 2007 letter to the Company...


The Subcommittee’s majority staff investigation into the adequacy of access to dental care for Medicaid-eligible children in Maryland raised serious questions about the quality of United’s network of providers and the reliability of the lists the company publishes for use by its enrollees. The staff’s experiences indicate the real difficulties parents and guardians experience in identifying a general dentist to sever Medicaid beneficiary children..."