Eliminating Medicaid coverage for adult dental care in Illinois won't save the state money and will lead to more patients going to hospital emergency rooms for dental services, according to a story in the Register-Mail.
Eliminating adult dental care as a Medicaid service would save the state $51.4 million annually, the story noted. Some 172,000 adults in Illinois receive Medicaid-funded dental services each year.
Low-income adults in Illinois can qualify for Medicaid if they are disabled, pregnant, or caring for children on Medicaid. Adult Medicaid pays for restorations, extractions, dentures, and root canals for some teeth.
Because Medicaid rates for most pediatric and adult dental services are 60% to 80% lower than private-insurance rates, fewer than one-third of Illinois' 8,000 dentists accept Medicaid clients, according to the Register-Mail. Only 1,000 dentists statewide regularly bill Medicaid, the story said.
Gov. Pat Quinn hasn't said whether dentists will be among the healthcare providers affected by his $675 million in proposed Medicaid rate reductions.
