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Baltimore, Md.— Today, on the one-year anniversary of the death of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (Md.-07) held a press conference to outline the progress in his efforts to ensure dental access for all children and to discuss new legislation that he expects to introduce this week. He was joined by Dr. Norman Tinanoff, Maryland Dental Action Committee Co-Chair and Chair of the University of Maryland Dental School Department of Pediatric Dentistry; Dr. Allen Finkelstein, Chief Dental Officer of United Health; Dr. Charlene Brown, Baltimore City Department of Health Assistant Commissioner of Clinical Services; and Ms. Laurie Norris, attorney for the Public Justice Center who represents Alyce Driver, Deamonte’s mother.
“Deamonte’s story is a shocking wake up call to the failures of our health care system, and I will continue moving forward to ensure that from this tragic death we are able to bring life,” Congressman Cummings said. “Dental decay is the single most common childhood disease in the U.S., and I will not relent in this fight until I am assured that every single child who needs to see a dentist is able to do so.”
Deamonte, who was homeless, died a year ago when an untreated tooth infection spread to his brain. Although a simple, eighty dollar tooth extraction could have saved his life, his mother was unable to find a dentist willing to accept Medicaid.
Congressman Cummings has been a leader in the efforts to increase children’s access to dental care, and he plans to introduce new legislation in conjunction with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The bill aims to establish a dental home for every child by increasing dental services in community health centers and training more individuals in pediatric dentistry. Additionally, the bill offers tax incentives for dentists to treat children with Medicaid.
“Deamonte Driver’s death should never have occurred, and the blame rests on every single one of us,” Congressman Cummings said. “We must ensure that no other child is needlessly taken from this world as Deamonte was, and it is only by attacking this problem from all fronts that we can truly affect change.”
During the past year, Congressman Cummings has been working with representatives from all levels of government and within the dental and insurance industries to realize many successes in achieving this goal, including:
· Facilitating a partnership between the University of Maryland Dental School and United Health, the Driver family’s Medicaid provider, wherein United Health will provide the dental school with more than $170,000 to address the shortage of dentists trained in pediatrics and to help Medicaid patients more easily gain access to dental care. A similar arrangement with Howard University is in the process of being finalized.
· Introducing Deamonte’s Law (H.R. 2371), which would increase access to children’s dental services.
· Partnering with the Baltimore City Health Department, University of Maryland Dental School, and United Health to provide Head Start children with free dental screenings and educational materials on dental hygiene.
· Authoring language in the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to increase capacity of community health centers and create an education campaign for new parents, as well as providing guaranteed dental benefits under the SCHIP program.
· Working with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to champion reforms at the state level to drastically improve children’s access to dental care in Maryland.
· Initiating a federal investigation to examine systemic problems within the Medicaid system, resulting in an audit of fifteen states providing inadequate dental care. The results of these investigations will serve as a foundation upon which to implement reforms across the U.S.
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