In case you might be wondering how much Texas now spends on dental care for Medicaid children, we now have an answer for you.
TDMR filed an open record request earlier this year to get the spending figures for 2014 and 2015. We had done this previously for 2000-2013.
Overall Medical dental program spending now $1.136 billion
Total dental Medicaid has dropped significantly from 2013.
In 2013, total spending was $1,637,768,363. Last year in 2015, it was $1,136,978,385.90.
That’s $500 million less although it rose by more than a $100 million from 2014 to 2015. But this amount is still less than the total level of spending in 2010, $1,240,762,517, when orthodontic program spending accounted for $200 million of the total and less than the 2011 total, $1,180,546,265, not including the orthodontic program spend.
So while the number of dentists continues to increase in the Medicaid program, program spending appears to be going down over the long term.
| Texas Medicaid Dental Expenditures FY 2014-2015 | |||
| Fee for Service | MCO | TOTAL | |
| FY 2014 | $95,361,271.24 | $928,155,270.23 | $1,023,516,541.47 |
| FY 2015 | $64,072,650.84 | $1,072,905,735.06 | $1,136,978,385.90 |