America's Great Dental Divide

Wisconsin's comprehensive dental benefit is considered one of the best in the nation. According to the National Academy for State Health Policy, four states don't offer any dental insurance to Medicaid beneficiaries, and another 15 offer only emergency care.Still, most dentists in Wisconsin, and across the country, don't accept patients on Medicaid because they say the reimbursement rates are too low. The Wisconsin Dental Association says Medicaid pays only about 35 percent of the dentists' costs.A report released this month by the Goldwater Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that of Arizona’s 7 million residents, 2.4 million as of Jan. 1 lived in areas designated as dental-health-professional shortage areas, which means one or fewer dentists per 5,000 people.Dental therapists are “mid-level providers,” similar to the role that physician assistants and nurse practitioners play in the medical world. They are allowed in Minnesota, Maine and Vermont, on tribal land in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, and in some other countries including Australia and New Zealand.