California's Denti-Cal program, which offers dental care to low-paid residents, is "close to useless", according to Paul Downey, chairman of the California Commission on Aging. The program features "nation’s lowest reimbursement rates, burdensome paperwork, restrictive rules and too few providers" according to the Little Hoover Commission, adding less than 25% of eligible California seniors visited a dentist through Medi-Cal in Today. Gaps in the coverage force low-income seniors in need of treatment to go without it, driving up gum disease and tooth decay rates, which in turn lead to other health problems. Proposed cuts to Medicaid could also affect Denti-Cal, leaving millions of Americans facing the prospect of no dental coverage.
California's Denti-Cal program, which offers dental care to low-paid residents, is "close to useless", according to Paul Downey, chairman of the California Commission on Aging. The program features "nation’s lowest reimbursement rates, burdensome paperwork, restrictive rules and too few providers" according to the Little Hoover Commission, adding less than 25% of eligible California seniors visited a dentist through Medi-Cal in 2015-2016. Gaps in the coverage force low-income seniors in need of treatment to go without it, driving up gum disease and tooth decay rates, which in turn lead to other health problems. Proposed cuts to Medicaid could also affect Denti-Cal, leaving millions of Americans facing the prospect of no dental coverage.