The Connecticut State Dental Association (CSDA) has high hopes for this legislative session.
“We have more bills that have been proposed that are oral healthcare related than I think anybody’s ever seen,” CSDA Executive Director Kathlene Gerrity said.
The CSDA has a list of proposed bills it is it is following this legislative session. While these bills cover a range of topics, from health insurance to fluoridated water, there is one issue that rises to the top of the list: increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates.
CSDA is eying several bills that would change the Medicaid reimbursement rate.
One bill that the Committee on Human Services is reviewing would “equalize” Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates. This bill, which was introduced by Sen. Jeff Gordon (R-Woodstock), would raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate to match the corresponding Medicare rates for covered inpatient and outpatient services, including dental services.
Another proposed bill would increase Medicaid payment rates for the HUSKY D program, but only to 80% of the corresponding Medicare rates.
“The legislative session is full steam ahead right now and there are a lot of topics that are being assigned their importance,” Gerrity said. “We want to make sure that Medicaid reimbursement rates and properly funding the whole system does not get lost in the weeds with everything else that people are concerned about.”
Last week, the President of the CSDA, Dr. Steve Hall, sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont expressing concern about a dental care “crisis” in the state. In that letter, Hall stated that reimbursement rates for dental care were so low that many Husky recipients could not afford dental care, and there were less health care providers accepting Medicaid recipients as patients.
“Providers can’t run a business based upon what they’re being reimbursed,” Gerrity said. “So, people have to make a very tough decision about what they’re going to do for their communities, and a lot of people that were traditionally taking Husky have either stopped taking on new patients or have completely dropped out of the system.”
A 2023 report from the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) found that less than half of adults with HUSKY Health programs use any dental services.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons why we’re seeing those numbers,” Gerrity said. “You have less providers, and therefore there’s less access to care. That’s part of it. The other part of it is that a huge portion of the people that are Medicaid eligible are working poor. And given the rising cost of everything else, they have to prioritize housing and food and gas, all the other things that all of us have to pay for.”
Another proposed bill that the CSDA is looking at would appropriate $500,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Public Health to provide dental care for people who cannot afford it. This bill was proposed by Rep. Mary Mushinsky (D-Wallingford).
Lamont will be presenting a proposed budget on Wednesday, Feb. 5. On Jan. 22, the Office of the State Comptroller published its 2025 Comptroller’s Healthcare Cabinet Report. One of the recommendations in that report was increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates.
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