In the News

The numbers are staggering: nearly 69 million United States adults lacked dental insurance or access to routine oral health care last year, according to a survey by the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. This issue has been exacerbated by the rollback of Medicaid expansions post-COVID-19.

The deficit in dental coverage is immense: nearly 69 million U.S. adults did not have dental insurance or access to routine oral health care last year, according to a survey by the nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Millions more lost dental insurance last year when states began to unwind Medicaid coverage for people who signed up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"According to a new study from CareQuest and the American Institute of Dental Public Health, of the more than 9 million veterans who are eligible for medical care from the VA, 85% are not eligible for dental coverage."

“'That was a moment of reckoning for me. It was unacceptable that a preventable disease was impacting our children in this way. This experience is what ultimately led me to my work at CareQuest Institute,” Minter-Jordan said."

"Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, president and CEO of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health in Boston, told the panel that traditional Medicare’s exclusion of dental benefits leaves about “half of Medicare enrollees, nearly 25 million older Americans and people with disabilities, without dental benefits.”'

Gary Harbison, Executive Director of the Missouri Oral Health Coalition, talks with KMOX Radio about the 224,063 people who lost dental coverage due to the Medicaid unwinding in 2023 in Missouri.

"Oral and mental health ailments have been well-researched, correlated, and understood within American healthcare for decades, yet 85% of the approximately 9 million American veterans do not have dental or oral health coverage through the VA."

"More current and prospective patients, especially younger ones, expect a virtual encounter option from all of their healthcare providers. Moreover, according to a recent survey conducted by CareQuest Institute, 86% of patients were satisfied with their teledental experiences and would recommend teledentistry."

"A staggering 68.5 million Americans are estimated to be without dental insurance. The causes and reasons are complex, but the result is an enormous gap in our health care system."

"This new rule holds the potential to make dental coverage available to millions of people who do not have it. According to the 2023 State of Oral Health Equity in America survey from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, nearly 70 million adults do not have dental insurance. This number has almost certainly increased, as the survey was conducted before the start of the Medicaid redetermination process following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency."