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| Washington, D.C. — Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) led more than 60 colleagues in urging that dental coverage be guaranteed under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) reauthorization and offered three low- to no-cost dental initiatives that would result in tremendous improvements in children's access to dental care.
Spurred to action by the tragic, dental disease-related death of 12-year-old Marylander Deamonte Driver, Congressman Cummings has been adamant in efforts to improve children's access to dental care. He joined Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, a former dentist, in circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee requesting that the SCHIP bill include a mandatory dental benefit (see attached).
"Because of our failures, dental disease is the single most common chronic childhood disease in this country," Congressman Cummings said. "We have the tools at our fingertips to solve this problem-but we refuse to use them."
In addition, Congressman Cummings is working to include low-cost provisions in SCHIP that would significantly improve access to dental care. The first would improve access to care at community health centers; the second would streamline state contracting practices; and the third would educate new mothers on the importance of oral health.
"Deamonte Driver could have been saved with $40 worth of dental care, but he was poor and homeless and he never made it into the dental chair," said Congressman Cummings. "We would not accept such gross negligence in our distribution of preventable illnesses like Tuberculosis or Smallpox, and we must not accept it for dental disease either. That is why we must include a mandatory dental benefit in the SCHIP reauthorization."
The following is the text from the letter:
July 17, 2007
The Honorable John D. Dingell
Chairman, Energy and Commerce Committee 2125 Rayburn Office Building Washington DC 20515 The Honorable Joe Barton
Ranking Member, Energy and Commerce Committee 2322A Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Dingell and Ranking Member Barton:
We support a guaranteed dental benefit in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and are writing to urge you to include this provision in the Committee's reauthorization legislation.
Good oral health is an essential component to one's overall health and therefore, critical for our nation's children. Tooth decay remains the most pervasive, chronic disease among children in our country.
However, tooth decay is easily preventable provided that children receive early treatment and prevention. A guaranteed dental benefit within SCHIP would ensure that children have access to cost-effective dental care and are not left without these essential services during economic downturns. All 50 states have recognized the importance of including dental coverage to SCHIP, and they currently do so; however, without a federal policy guaranteeing the benefit, such coverage is in jeopardy.
When a state stops providing dental benefits because they are optional services it leaves SCHIP-eligible children and their families with little affordable options for oral health care. Furthermore, studies have shown that when SCHIP eliminates dental benefits, many children will go to hospital emergency rooms resulting in higher costs and less treatment. According to an Ohio study, the cost for treating a Medicaid patient in a dentist office for an extraction of an abscessed tooth would total $78 and result in resolution of the problem. If that patient sought treatment in an emergency room the cost would be $307, not including a necessary extraction which would require further treatment.
Good oral health is integral to overall health, and children deserve the same access to oral health care in SCHIP as other essential services. Providing routine and emergency dental care to SCHIP-eligible children ultimately results in better, more thorough and less costly care.
We urge you to support a guaranteed dental benefit in SCHIP reauthorization legislation.
Sincerely,
Elijah E. Cummings, Michael K. Simpson, et al. ### |
