Health Affairs: Oral Health Care: What Are Funders Supporting?

In January 2021 Health Forward Foundation awarded $75,000 in funding to support Oral Health Kansas’s (OHK’s) ongoing efforts to advocate for “comprehensive Medicaid adult dental benefits” in Kansas, Tanya Dorf Brunner, OHK’s executive director, told Health Affairs. Access to dental care has increased somewhat in recent years through managed care organizations participating in KanCare (Kansas Medicaid), “but consistent and comprehensive dental coverage remains elusive for Kansas adults living in poverty.” This grant covers “strengthening relationships with legislative supporters,” recruiting other groups to advocate for KanCare adult dental benefits, “creating a grassroots advocacy toolkit, and working with state and national researchers to study unmet dental needs” in Kansas, Brunner said. In 2021 CareQuest Institute for Oral Health also funded OHK advocacy work with a $146,438 grant. In 2022 OHK’s focus will be on advocating for passage of “SB 227, which would establish dental benefits” for adult KanCare enrollees. If it is enacted, more than 150,000 people would have access to care, Brunner said.

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