Dental Health

By Jenny Kattlove | January 2013

Medi-Cal’s dental program will soon provide dental services to about 50 percent of California’s children. Yet, the program has proven to be inadequate to meet their needs. This Issue Brief spotlights stories of children enrolled in Medi-Cal trying to access dental care. The Brief highlights the challenges facing Medi-Cal in providing dental care to children, examines the State’s efforts to address these problems, and provides an action plan to help the program serve its growing number of enrollees. 

Download the Issue Brief
Download the Press Statement 

--To read more stories of families who have struggled to access needed dental care for their children, visit Meet the Children Behind the Issue.
--To read about TCP’s efforts to improve the oral health of California’s underserved children, please visit Dental Health Agenda for Children.

DrBicuspid.com

The Children's Partnership (TCP) has released an issue brief and action plan addressing the challenges Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, faces in providing dental care to children in the state. The issue brief also stresses the impact that newly enrolled children will have on the state's strained dental care system.

Download the article here.

"It's a public health issue" according to Jenny Kattlove, Director of Strategic Health Initiatives. "A large number of California children do not have dental coverage at all. About 1.8 million of them in public coverage are not getting the dental care they need. One reason is that the reimbursement rate for dentists is very low, close to the lowest in the nation, and in California there are Medi-Cal administrative barriers providers face.

Download the full article here .

Santa Monica, CA– Today, The Children’s Partnership released an issue brief and action plan addressing the challenges Medi-Cal faces in providing dental care to children in California. The issue brief, Fix Medi-Cal Dental Coverage: Half of California Kids Depend On It, also stresses the impact that newly enrolled children will have on the state’s strained dental care system. “California’s Medi-Cal dental system is already struggling to serve children and is unprepared for what’s to come,” said Wendy Lazarus, Founder & Co-President of The Children’s Partnership. “California’s kids deserve real access to quality dental care—not a false promise of it.” The brief highlights the challenges facing Medi-Cal in providing dental care to children, examines the State’s efforts to address these problems, and provides an action plan to help the program serve its growing number of enrollees. 

Download the full press statement here .