What the Compromise Budget Deal has in Store – How will it Affect Dentistry

This year the debate in Congress over the budget proposal ended up resulting in $38 billion in reductions.

The debate nearly shut down the government, as it was the media nearly at the point of declaring there would an imminent shutdown when an announcement came that a budget agreement had been reached.

However it is likely the resulting cuts are going to affect the world of dentistry, the biggest concern being that Community Health Care Centers will not receive enough funding to expand support to uninsured patients. Yet those online health care degrees with are quick to point out the White House says that this is not the case due to new legislation coming up swiftly in the Senate.

The President’s fact sheet states that any form of deficit reduction, especially a comprehensive reduction, would exclude health care in order to strengthen programs that benefit low-income Americans and families.

However, an evaluation of the Committee of Appropriation’s final program cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services amounted to an additional $890 million reduction in funding for community health centers and a $75 million reduction in funding for state access health grants.

There was also a $1 million reduction for the rural health program. The only programs not affected by the budget cuts are those that deal with health care related facilities.

What does this mean to the average American? For people in Lorain County, Ohio the reduction in funding to community health centers could mean the difference between receiving dental care and suffering in pain.

In fact, many areas have community health centers that offer dental services for uninsured individuals and the cuts are coming at a time when these centers are seeing an increase of patients and need additional funding in order to renovate and expand facilities and provide services to patients. Lorain County Health & Dentistry is one such health center that could be affected by these changes.

CEO Stephanie Wiersma for Lorain County Health & Dentistry states that these cuts will mean a reduction in the number of uninsured individuals who can receive care and will end up being more costly in the end. This is because the individuals who cannot receive services will go to the emergency room and this is ultimately more expensive. Similarly, the community health center had plans for renovating a new location for expansion and the cuts could put these plans to a halt.

In addition to not being able to expand services, it could also mean a reduction in staff. This would further decrease the number of services available to uninsured individuals desperately in need of oral health care due to existing conditions and for preventative maintenance.

Not only that, but this year 30 states have also enacted or proposed significant cuts in Medicaid that will reduce the percentages paid to doctors, limit emergency room visits and dental care. For instance, Arizona enacted the termination of emergency dental care, while Connecticut failed to pass a proposal that would take away non-emergency dental services for welfare and Medicaid recipients. Likewise, Nevada has proposed terminating dental and other non-primary care benefits, and Massachusetts cut $56 million from its adult dental services program.

On April 15, 2011, a bill called the Special Dentistry Act of 2011 was introduced to Congress that would require states to provide underprivileged individuals Medicaid benefits that are specifically related to oral health benefits. The passing of this bill could help many Americans who do not have insurance and live at the poverty level receive the dental services they desperately need in order to maintain good health. If this bill passes, it would carry an effective date of October 11, 2011. As of April 15, the bill has been sent to the House Committee of Energy and Commission for review.

In the world of funding and research, provided by section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) received a little over $400 million for research in dental disease. The funding for this will help to support over ten laboratories and research in areas of oral disease and oral health issues.

Clearly there are both positive and negative changes happening to dentistry industry due to the budget changes. While the government is claiming that the entire legislative changes made to Health Care Act resulted in an additional $400 million in funding, the institutions that are recipients claim that there are too many restrictions on the funds. In 2009 and 2010, the NIDCR received a little over $100 million in comparison.

The government is doing its best to ensure that Medicaid recipients and underprivileged individuals continue to have access to the already limited resources available to provide dental services. However, it is not doing enough to expand services, and the budget cuts have jeopardized many the ability if many community health centers’ to service the increasing amount of uninsured individuals in the existing facilities.

Midwestern states have been proven to have the least amount of dentistry services available to uninsured and underprivileged individuals and the government claims that it wants to strengthen services in the Midwest as a result. Yet the fact of the matter is that budget cuts are actually effecting community health centers nationwide and limiting the amount of people who can actually receive services due to lack of additional staff, facilities and funding.

Thus far, the President’s claim that he will continue to strengthen programs to help the underprivileged remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see if the Special Dentistry Act of 2011 happens, as it would be an improvement for Medicaid recipients and those living in poverty levels towards receiving dentistry benefits. However, as community health centers struggle to stay open and the number of uninsured patients rises one must doubt the viability of the final budget cuts that were enacted by our government.