The total cost of getting rid of the adult dental Medicaid benefit is projected to be nearly $2 billion per year, according to a report from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute.
The elimination of the benefit would limit access to preventive and early intervention dental care, leading to worse oral and overall health and higher healthcare costs in the future.
The ADA calculated the cost of removing the dental Medicaid benefit for patients with coronary artery disease, diabetes, who are pregnant who do not receive care for periodontics, as well as the expected cost of increased emergency department visits for dental conditions due to losing access to routine dental care.
Here is the total estimated increase in healthcare costs associated with the different medical conditions if the adult dental benefit was removed in each state:
Notes: States that do not have an adult dental Medicaid benefit or are emergency only were not included. The results in states that expanded adult dental Medicaid benefits since 2021 (Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Tennessee) are underestimated.
Alaska: $9,563,390
Arkansas: $8,205,910
California: $400,001,393
Colorado: $47,297,804
Connecticut: $43,730,701
Delaware: $3,827,575
District of Columbia: $10,268,008
Hawaii: $4,546,749
Idaho: $10,674,202
Illinois: $73,486,235
Indiana: $54,595,457
Iowa: $25,150,209
Kansas: $7,888,601
Kentucky: $31,163,701
Louisiana: $34,108,547
Maine: $4,841,719
Maryland: $25,625,442
Massachusetts: $74,137,474
Michigan: $78,892,891
Minnesota: $48,975,103
Montana: $9,984,245
Nebraska: $11,790,129
New Hampshire: $1,573,561
New Jersey: $87,434,925
New Mexico: $23,311,915
New York: $255,778,913
North Carolina: $61,524,025
North Dakota: $1,812,737
Ohio: $110,827,121
Oklahoma: $17,666,327
Oregon: $51,028,139
Pennsylvania: $101,713,818
Rhode Island: $8,977,866
South Carolina: $15,612,617
South Dakota: $3,952,263
Tennessee: $2,830,451
Vermont: $6,915,861
Virginia: $38,985,113
Washington: $55,505,997
West Virginia: $10,801,094
Wisconsin: $37,366,889
Wyoming: $1,593,634