G-2011-16461

This investment is to support Maine Equal Justice Partners in their approach to create an adult dental benefit in Maine’s Medicaid program, and to build grassroots public support for increased access to dental care for all Maine residents. Maine Equal Justice Partners has made significant strides as a leader in policy work in Maine. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had received strong bipartisan support to support the bill to include the dental benefit in MaineCare, however, the legislative session has been continuously stalled due to the pandemic. In 2020, they have worked to advance their goals through holding virtual public hearings, lobby days, news and social media campaigns, engaging the public through a motto “dental care IS health care” and through one-on-one meetings to ensure their voice is included, engaging with key stakeholders in the administration, and participating in advocacy working groups in response to the pandemic and the ongoing public benefit work. With this investment, Maine Equal Justice will continue their work towards an adult dental benefit with a strategy that involves working with a broad coalition of perspectives and expertise and developing tactics for the virtual legislative session. They will update their racial impact analysis about the effects of the added dental benefit, and contract with the American Dental Association Health Policy Initiative to conduct an economic impact analysis, and work directly with impacted individuals to share their experiences with oral health care, especially during the pandemic. They will focus the work on pushing that a comprehensive dental benefit is the fiscally smart choice for both health care dollars and economic recovery with an economic analysis to support this, including more explicit language around addressing racial disparities in their new bill, and engaging with the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the implementation of the bill is successful, provided that it passes through. The budget of $125,000 goes largely towards payroll, and includes two subgrants to partner organizations who work with impacted populations.