WaPo, via Atrios: Awful story from Maryland:
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren’t so hard to find.
If his mother hadn’t been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte’s own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George’s County boy died.
Deamonte Driver, sitting next to his mother, Alyce, shows the scars from incisions for his brain surgery. (By Linda Davidson — The Washington Post)
Anyone who imagines that dental care is an “extra” is kidding themselves. And yet this was how Gov. Romney balanced the budget a few years ago — by taking away poor people’s dental care. We don’t want to let that happen again.
BTW — it was the new health care law that restored dental and eyeglass benefits to Masshealth recipients.
Not what his ancestors did.
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Romney took healthcare away from poor people by balancing the budget on their backs.
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A President should more community-minded than Romney.
A kid in Maryland dies because his mother allows his and his brother’s mouths to rot out before seeking help for them. And you, sir, contort this into a truly ignorant attack on someone totally unconnected to the story.
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Pathetic.
Truly pathetic.
And anything less than real universal coverage reform is just dressed up tinkering and serves to perpetuate such preventable tragedies. Yes the MA health reform law had good pieces, ie it restored dental coverage to MassHealth, but most of the 100,000 newly insured under the law do not have dental coverage. (Commonweatlh Care the “subsidized product” for those earning btwn 100-300% poverty level lacks dental)
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While many seasoned reform activists advocated and lobbied for various pieces of the new law we simultaneously were working to enact a health care constitutional amendment that would guarantee lasting universal comprehensive coverage FOR ALL state residents. As I said a few weeks ago to Rep. Jamie Eldridge, if the HC Amendment is reintroduced I think it might make sense to include 2 additional words to the proposed amendment language: “dental coverage”.
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Shame on us all for allowing this disgraceful state of health care discrimination continue to exist…when there are workable solutions out there.
described the restoration of dental benefits as the “top goal” of its membership since they were cut in 2001. People really care about this.
You can’t even buy dental care in this state, if you don’t get it through work.
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Which might make middle class folks feel more connected to the problem.
This is very very sad. I think the way we make a big issue abut insurance makes poor people think they can’t go to doctors and dentists, but really, we should educate people that they can just go anyhow. Go! Anyhow! They might find they can afford it out of pocket, or maybe in installments. But instead the news drums it into them that “if you don’t have insurance, then you can’t go to the dentist.” Why can’t the dentist help them apply for state assistance if it turns out they can’t afford it?
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And it’s really tragic that people’s priorities are all bent out of whack by advertisising and our competivive consumer culture. Our culture causes these conflicts between Sony PlayStations and basic medical care. I’m sure God forgives this family if they did get a PlayStation with that $80, or if they spent it on scratch tickets or cigaretts, but does He forgive the rest of us with our PlayStations and dental insurance? The Three Stooges could pull five teeth in one twenty minute episode, shouldn’t it be even easier to do by now?
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2. Sick and Broke, By Elizabeth Warren, WaPo 2/9/05
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Nobody’s safe. That’s the warning from the first large-scale study of medical bankruptcy.
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Health insurance? That didn’t protect 1 million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.
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3. Bankruptcy Study Highlights Need For National Health Insurance
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So, if you really want to help change this disgraceful state of affairs that is our U.S. (and our state) health care system, organize a house party or at least give a few bucks to MassCare. Click the link for info on how to take action. Thanks.
Were precipitated by the cost of routine checkups rather than a catastrphic event?
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And, as between a financial crisis and a health crisis, the former can be fixed.
Did you know that many dentists offices now have little placards at the front desk that say “Payment required at time of appointment if you do not have dental insurance”? (and they won’t see you unless you pay first!!!)
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Where is the outrage that we are the LAST industrialized country to enact a national universal health insurance program? (it used to be just us and South Africa, back when they still had Apartheid…now it’s just US) Can we please focus our thinking and our energies on doing something about that, since it’s the real issue here?!!!!
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—
and for those who need a bit more background on the issue:
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Institute of Medicine Calls for Universal Health Insurance by 2010, by John S. James
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Summary: On January 14, 2004 the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) called for the U.S. to implement universal health care by 2010. Currently 43,000,000 Americans are uninsured, and lack of health insurance causes 18,000 unnecessary deaths each year in the U.S. Eighty percent of the uninsured are members of working families — but a quarter of U.S. workers are not offered health insurance at all, and few Americans can afford to buy the expensive individual policies. These and dozens of other facts in the new report will help anyone who is making a case for change. [2004-01-15]
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On January 14 the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a Congressionally chartered but independent organization created in 1970 “to serve as adviser to the nation to improve health,” released a report and fact sheets asking the president and Congress to act so that everyone living in the U.S. has health insurance by 2010. The report assembles facts we all can use to make the case that the current system must and can be changed. For example:
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* Uninsured children and adults are sicker and die more often, as cancer and other diseases are diagnosed too late. Uninsured persons injured in an automobile accident get less services in hospitals and have a 37% higher death rate than those with health coverage. Lack of health insurance causes 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the U.S. Currently, 43,000,000 Americans are uninsured.
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* The cost of the employee’s share of health insurance increased 350% (in constant dollars) from 1977 to 1998, while the median income only increased 17%.
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* Four out of five uninsured Americans are members of working families. A quarter of U.S. workers are not offered health insurance at all by their employer. If they buy their own policy it usually costs much more than the same insurance purchased by a group, especially if they have a chronic health condition. If they do not have insurance and get sick, they usually have to pay much more for the same medical services, since insurance companies can negotiate discounts with doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and others.
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* Four out of five without health insurance in the U.S. are U.S. citizens — although immigrants are more likely than others to be uninsured.
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* Of the 7.8 million uninsured children in the U.S. today, half are actually eligible for insurance under SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) or Medicaid. Often they are kept out by complex enrollment or re-enrollment procedures.
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* It would almost certainly cost less to provide insurance to everyone than to continue the current system. The cost of covering all the uninsured has been estimated as between 3% and 5.6% of total U.S. healthcare cost.
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* The U.S. spends more per person on health care than any other nation — 14% of gross its domestic product — but is 25th in male life expectancy and 19th in female life expectancy among 29 developed countries.
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The report recommends five key principles for evaluating health insurance — that it be universal, continuous, affordable to individuals and families, affordable and sustainable for society, and should “enhance health and well-being by promoting access to high-quality care that is effective, efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered, and equitable.” It does not recommend a particular reform strategy, but evaluates four of them, including single payer, on how well they meet these recommendations.
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“Imagine what the country would be like if everyone had coverage — people would be financially able to have a health problem checked in a timely manner, to obtain preventive and primary care, and to receive necessary. appropriate and effective health services. Families would have security in knowing that they had some protection against medical bills undermining their financial stability. Key community providers and health care institutions could provide care to those who need it without jeopardizing their financial stability.”
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The new report, Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations, is the last of a series of six IOM reports “that offers the most comprehensive examination to date of the consequences of lack of health insurance on individuals, their families, communities, and the whole society.” Copies of all six are available at: http://www.iom.edu/r… or through: http://www.iom.edu
Gee, if dentists refuse to see people without them paying first, that’s terrible. Why don’t they get insurance for people that can’t pay? I think there should be a law against refusing to treat someone just because they can’t pay up front, and we should back it up with programs to reimburse dentists and work with patients to help them pay after the fact. Yes, that would be some sort of personal bankruptcy, but that’s what would make them change their spending habits while they pay back the dental work. Isn’t that how hospitals are?
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I don’t think we should just figure out how to get everyone on the insurane rolls, I think we should obligate hospitals to treat everyone and then come up with a way to help people pay if they can’t pay. If a rich guy can pay for his operation, he’ll pay for his operation, and forgo the vacation. If someone can’t afford to forgo anything, they can apply for assistance.
This thread started out with a horror story precipitated by someone’s failure to receive adequate dental care.
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Someone upthread noted: Geez, you can pay cash at the dentist, why is it always made to seem like you can’t even go to a dentist without insurance.
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“Just go” says you, is “bad advice” because a healch crisis can easily cause a financial crisis.
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That was wrong. Even if we might someday secure single payer insurance on whatever model you advocate sometime in the future, a guy without dental insurance TODAY should JUST GO and get a checkup once in awhile, esp. if he has a toothache. Find someone who will agree to a payment plan ( I bet most would), pay with a credit card, something.
but it’s even easier when you just don’t have the cash or the credit to make it happen.
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In hindsight, that mother should have made it happen. But how many people put off a trip to the dentist and “get away with it” because they only lose that tooth? This is the problem — there’s uncertainty, and most of the time putting things off for a little bit longer doesn’t result in much more in “cost” (treatment, pain, etc).
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My wife has to twist my arm to go get routine medical exams, etc., and I do have good coverage, and I also understand the risk/reward so I know full well I should go. When I didn’t have insurance, I just didn’t go to the doctor/dentist for a few years. I could have afforded it if I knew I’d die otherwise, but I also knew that the odds were that my aches and pains were just aches and pains, and would just go away or not get much worse in the next few months/years.
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Doctor: “congrats stormy, you’re healthy except for a twisted arm…”
That’s why “just go” is good advice.
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And I found gary’s comment above this to be laugh-out-loud funny.
that surveys show people value dental insurance more than standard medical insurance.
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Why? When people 25-55 get ill, they usually get better. They rarely get in really severe accidents.
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But nearly all of them have had toothaches. Toothaches really, really hurt. They don’t get better on their own, and they result in a severe decline in productivity and a severe increase in misery.
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Compared to traditional medical costs, it would seem that dental care is cheap, and it has a significant impact on quality of life.
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So, lets get folks dental coverage. While we’re at it, let’s use our public universities to bring down price a smidge by increasing the number of seats in pre-dent and dental programs. If we’re going to increase the demand, we need to have sound public policies to increase the amount of qualified supply too.
…the various health care financing operations in the USofA would pay for dental care, provided that the dental care was provided in hospitals. (Medicare, medicaid, health care insurance all seem to be designed to benefit doctors and hospitals, not necessarily dentists.)
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On the subject matter of the post, several times I have mentioned that my mother-in-law in Germany has private health insurance (health insurance in Germany is required for all residents there). Her private health insurance includes not only dental care, but also eyeglasses (at least one every two years). Interestingly, it also covers compression stockings for DVT (thrombosis) patients (two pair per year). AND, she pays less for her private health insurance than I pay to Blue Cross/Blue Shield (with almost no claims), despite her being a breast cancer subscriber.
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There is a terrible financing problem in the US.
This tragic story brings to light the need to improve access to routine, preventive oral health for all. The important part of this story to remember is that dental disease is almost entirely preventable. Nevertheless, right here in Massachusetts, nearly half of Massachusetts’ third graders have a history of dental decay, and more than one quarter are at school with untreated tooth decay and severe infections that require immediate care.
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We know that regular visits to a dental professional can stop early signs of infection and decay from degenerating into full-blown disease, but much like what happened in Maryland, there are a number of barriers that prevent families from gaining access to dental care, including a lack of dental professionals in many communities and a very low number of dentists who accept Medicaid insurance for dental procedures. Despite these challenges, there are several tried and true common sense solutions that can virtually eliminate this disease in children if we make it a statewide priority.
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For example, we can establish school-based dental screening programs, encourage pediatricians to roll routine oral check-ups into annual well-child visits, and increase partnerships with community health centers to provide preventive and restorative care.
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We can also work to expand access to dental sealants in school and community-based settings. This thin plastic barrier applied by a dental professional to a child’s back teeth, can prevent the majority of dental decay in children. The screenings, sealant and fluoride treatments that school- and community-based clinics can offer are low-cost practices that can prevent up to 90% of dental decay.
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By working to expand access to important preventive measures, we can eliminate oral disease in thousands of children. Every child counts. So, let’s watch our mouths and use them to ask our legislators to make children’s oral health a statewide priority.
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The Watch Your Mouth campaign is a statewide network of adults working to help Massachusetts residents understand that oral health is a critical component of overall health with the goal of improving oral health care for children throughout the state. Watch Your Mouth advocates for a variety of community-based solutions, such as those previously mentioned. For more information about our efforts, visit http://www.watchyourmouth.org.