Access to Dental Care in Medicaid: Spotlight on Nonelderly Adults

Table 1: Oral Health Access in the States – Selected Measures
Medicaid Income Eligibility Limits for Adults (as % of FPL): 1      
State Parents (in a family of three) Childless Adults Percent of Adults**
≤138% FPL Reporting
“Poor” Condition of Mouth/Teeth, 20152
Scope of Medicaid Adult Dental Benefits3 Percent of Medicaid Children
who received preventive dental visit in 20134
 
Medicaid Expansion States:
Alaska 143% 138% 14% Extensive 42%
Arizona 138% 138% 25% None 46%
Arkansas 138% 138% 32% Limited 50%
California 138% 138% 20% Extensive 37%
Colorado 138% 138% 10% Limited 51%
Connecticut 155% 138% 14% Extensive 60%
Delaware 138% 138% 19% None 46%
DC 221% 215% 6% Limited 50%
Hawaii 138% 138% 12% Emergency-Only 44%
Illinois 138% 138% 20% Limited 52%
Indiana 139% 139% 20% Limited 38%
Iowa 138% 138% 9% Extensive 50%
Kentucky 138% 138% 21% Limited 43%
Louisiana* 138% 138% 27% Limited 48%
Maryland 138% 138% 18% Emergency-Only 53%
Massachusetts 138% 138% 15% Extensive 54%
Michigan 138% 138% 20% Limited 40%
Minnesota 138% 138% 17% Limited 38%
Montana 138% 138% 21% Limited 48%
Nevada 138% 138% 13% Emergency-Only 45%
New Hampshire 138% 138% 17% Emergency-Only 56%
New Jersey 138% 138% 15% Extensive 47%
New Mexico 138% 138% 17% Extensive 51%
New York 138% 138% 12% Extensive 41%
North Dakota 138% 138% 14% Extensive 29%
Ohio 138% 138% 9% Extensive 21%
Oregon 138% 138% 20% Extensive 40%
Pennsylvania 138% 138% 20% Limited 40%
Rhode Island 138% 138% 15% Extensive 41%
Vermont 138% 138% 19% Limited 59%
Washington 138% 138% 18% Extensive 55%
West Virginia 138% 138% 27% Emergency-Only 46%
Non-Expansion States
Alabama 18% 0% 19% None 52%
Florida 34% 0% 26% Emergency-Only NR
Georgia 37% 0% 24% Emergency-Only 50%
Idaho 26% 0% 14% Emergency-Only 56%
Kansas 38% 0% 21% Limited 46%
Maine 105% 0% 21% Emergency-Only 40%
Mississippi 27% 0% 20% Emergency-Only 48%
Missouri 22% 0% 25% Limited NR
Nebraska 63% 0% 13% Limited 52%
North Carolina 44% 0% 15% Extensive 49%
Oklahoma 44% 0% 18% Emergency-Only 47%
South Carolina 67% 0% 21% Limited 51%
South Dakota 52% 0% 18% Limited 41%
Tennessee 101% 0% 16% None 49%
Texas 18% 0% 24% Emergency-Only 53%
Utah 45% 0% 13% Emergency-Only 52%
Virginia 39% 0% 28% Limited 48%
Wisconsin 100% 100% 21% Extensive 25%
Wyoming 57% 0% 20% Limited 41%
US 138% (median) 138% (median) 19% NA 48% (median)
NOTES:
NR- Not Reported
* LA’s Governor signed an Executive Order to adopt the Medicaid expansion on 1/12/16, but coverage under the expansion is not yet in effect. For purposes of this analysis, LA is considered an expansion state.
**Adults age 18 and older
1: Based on state-reported eligibility levels as of January 1, 2015, collected through a national survey conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families: Modern Era Medicaid: Findings from a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP as of January 2015, Kaiser Family Foundation, January 20, 2015, https://www.kff.org/medicaid/report/medicaid-and-chip-eligibility-enrollment-renewal-and-cost-sharing-policies-as-of-january-2016-findings-from-a-50-state-survey/.
2: The Oral Health Care System: A State-by-State Analysis, by the ADA Health Policy Institute. http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/oral-health-care-system. Fifty-state data provided directly to KCMU by the ADA Health Policy Institute.
3: Medicaid Adult Dental Benefits: An Overview, Feb. 2016, Center for Health Care Strategies, http://www.chcs.org/resource/medicaid-adult-dental-benefits-overview/.
4: Use of Dental Services in Medicaid and CHIP, Jan. 2015, Mathematica analysis of FFY 2013 CMS-416 Reports (annual EPSDT report), https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid-chip-program-information/by-topics/benefits/downloads/secretarys-report-dental-excerpt.pdf
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