As Senate Democrats seek to expand dental coverage under Medicare, some dentists are worried about how the plan will be managed and how it will affect the dental industry.
The dental expansion is part of a $3.5 billion reconciliation bill that would also enhance hearing and vision benefits for the nearly 62.7 million Americans enrolled in Medicare. Implementation of the benefits could be pushed until 2028 under legislation introduced Sept. 7.
Two dentists shared their thoughts on the bill with Becker's:
Huzefa Kapadia, DDS. Kapadia Dental Care (Waterford Mich.): My concern with government involvement are the issues of a fair compensation of dental procedures. Unfortunately, when the government gets involved, the dental reimbursements are extremely lower than what most dental offices can accept in order to run a dental office.
Another issue is the unfair government audits that eventually take place by a third party incentivized to find any flaws in order to get a large "settlement" from the dental provider.
Pros: Of course more people will have dental coverage who have not had it before. But what we haven't yet solved are the astronomical costs of dental school education/debt and the current saturation of dentists within the marketplace.
Robert Trager, DDS (New York City): Anything the government gets involved in in the health professions usually is mismanaged, chaotic and poorly administered. Non health professionals are not consulted to set up the programs, fees and protocols. The DSOs will be the main providers since the fees will probably be too low for the independent dentists. I predict there will be much fraud and overbilling and delayed payments. Dental health is more essential than hearing and vision to be delayed until 2028. One doesn't develop cancer, diabetes and other health problems from difficult hearing and poor vision.