The Sunshine State now joins the growing list of states that have recently increased dental Medicaid rates.
Florida’s commitment to “live healthy” for its citizens
On October 1, several health care bills came into effect in Flordia called the ‘Live Healthy’ legislation package. This legislation “bolsters Florida’s health care workforce, broadens access to quality health care, and fosters innovation in the industry … by offering new training opportunities, improving access to healthcare services in rural areas, and promoting technological advancements,” according to a press release earlier this year from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to the Florida Dental Association, it “supported key components of the Live Healthy Act (SB 7016) that will promote oral health for our underserved communities. This includes expansion of the dental student loan repayment program and funding to $8 million, training opportunities for dental students in federally qualified health centers, and a much-needed $35 million fee increase for dental services in Florida’s Medicaid program, which hasn’t had a funding increase since 2011.”
Congratulations to the FDA.
More states on the fee increase bandwagon
So, we have seen Colorado, Louisiana and now Florida increase Medicaid rates that hadn’t changed in more than a decade.
Will Texas raise its Medicaid dental fees?
Sadly, we haven’t seen anything about the results of a fee review by HHS provider services. Nothing is posted on their website.
We received a query from a desperate dentist about this a day ago. He said:
“Hello, I am writing in regards to your article on the upcoming hearing to consider fee raises. I have been a Medicaid provider for almost ten years and the situation is now intolerable. Where can I submit my experience as testimony for this hearing?
“More than just paying low fees, Medicaid policies are cruel and counter-productive, seemingly designed to punish dentists for taking Medicaid. For example, there is no reason to cover gold crowns on molar teeth and not ceramic crowns. Lab fees for gold are three or more times as expensive as ceramic, so this is a waste of taxpayer money and only incentivizes dentists to refuse to do gold crowns and leave vulnerable molar teeth to rot away. Even more pernicious is the fact that the fee for a 3-surface composite is less than the fee for a 2-surface composite. If this is to discourage overtreatment, then the entire premise is that dentists are assumed to be committing fraud. I would rather be required to take intraoral photos for every filling than to be underpaid in this insulting way.”
Raise your concerns with the Dental Director
The situation for Texas Medicaid dental providers is desperate. TDMR has found that the Texas HHS dental director, Dr. Ensy Atarod, is responsive to concerns and willing to communicate with individual providers though she can do little about fees. We strongly suggest you communicate with her. Her email address is Ensy.Atarod@hhs.texas.gov.