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The adult dental Medicaid program was cut in February2011 to the detriment of those in need of oral care.
Please respectfully ask your House member to reinstate Medicaid adult dental services.
BACKGROUND
On Monday, March 12, the South Carolina House of Representatives will begin budget deliberations on the House floor. The House Ways and Means Committee did not include any funding for adult dental services in the Medicaid budget. Therefore, the South Carolina Dental Association believes that we must not stand idly by and that we must do everything we can to see this important component of Medicaid restored.
OUR PLAN OF ACTION
Rep. Tracy Edge (R-North Myrtle Beach) has graciously agreed to introduce a budget proviso next week during the budget deliberations that will restore funding for adult dental coverage under Medicaid. This will be a straight up or down vote. While it won't be easy, we have a chance if every dentist in this state calls their House member.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
Please call your House member and urge them to vote to restore adult dental Medicaid funding when they take up the budget next week. Use the talking points below as a guide and remember to be professional and courteous. They are getting lots of calls for funding from various organizations and while this issue is most important to us, it may not be to the lawmaker. The most effective ways to contact your House member in order of effectiveness are (1) personal contact and (2) a phone call. At this time, there is no need to call your senator because the budget is not yet before them.
TALKING POINTS
- Since adult dental treatment has been eliminated from Medicaid, visits to the ER for dental emergencies have increased significantly (the SCDA has documentation to back this up). These people suffer with pain and abscesses (some of which are life threatening), and receive no care for it other than analgesics and antibiotics, which DO NOT solve their dental problem. The cost for this lack of treatment is significantly higher than what it would cost to have the patient's problem solved in a dental office.This has the potential to cause repeat visits to the emergency room for the same problem since it is not actually treated.
- Many of the Medicaid population are those with significant medical concerns, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and pregnancy, which coupled with a dental emergency, complicates medical treatment, therefore increasing cost of medical care
- The adult dental program funds from SC would be matched 3 to 1 by federal dollars.
- For the past three years, the SCDA has sponsored Dental Access Days (DAD) where volunteer dentists from throughout the state come together to provide care to those who would otherwise go untreated. Without this initiative, the problem of adults without dental care would be even worse, but we simply cannot reach everyone through this free program.
A WORD ABOUT THE CALL YOU WILL BE MAKING
We absolutely have to flood the House members with personal visits and phone calls. You should call (1) Your own House member (2) a House member that is a patient of yours, and (3) a House member that you have a relationship with somewhere else in the state.
If you do not know who your legislator is, Click Here and use the tool in the bottom left corner to Find Your Legislators.
Please make at least two attempts to see or call your legislator. If they have not returned your call, call a third time and leave a message about why you are calling and that you are a constituent of theirs. Let them know how they can get back in touch with you with questions.
After you have communicated with the House member, please call Phil Latham at SCDA at (803) 750-2277 or email lathamp@scda.org to give a report on what the House member said to you.
Calls need to be made on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. Please call their business number first, then their home number. Please do not call them on Sunday. If for some reason, you have not been able to speak to your House member by Monday, March 12, please call the Statehouse number and ask for a message to be delivered to them. Along with leaving your name and that you are a constituent, your message should ask the Representative to help us to restore funding for adult dental Medicaid services by supporting Representative Edge's proviso.
Regardless of whether you have spoken to your Representative or not, please send them a thank you note/reminder email on Monday, March 12, to their email address. Click here for all contact information (upload may take a few minutes).
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