Many counties in Iowa are suffering from a lack of dental providers who accept new patients on Medicaid insurance.
Plummeting reimbursement rates are causing providers to stop accepting Medicaid from not only new patients, but also current and former patients.
Data from the American Dental Association shows that in 2016, Iowa dentists made 40 cents on the dollar when providing service to a Medicaid patient. Coupled with a typical 60 percent overhead, many dentists lose money when seeing a patient with state insurance.
Now, many are backing out. That means many people on fixed incomes have to pay for costly road trips just to get to find someone who can clean their teeth.
Dr. Corey Garner, DDS, owns and operates Southside Smiles in Des Moines. She accepts private insurance, state insurance, and even people with no insurance.
She says patients come from as close as Des Moines, and as far as Marshalltown or even Sioux City to see her. That’s a six-hour round trip.
“We have patients routinely who are traveling two hours to come to our office and those patients just can’t find providers in their area that accept state insurance,” Garner said.
With reimbursement rates at an all-time low, Dr. Garner said that many providers aren’t willing, or even able, to serve people with low incomes, a population that often faces other challenges.
“Some of the patients are non-English speaking and translators are often needed. There’s also a wide range of people dealing with mental health problems or drug and alcohol past and present usage,” Garner said.
I-Smile data from the Iowa Department of Public Health shows that in 2018, around 47 percent of dentists provided a dental service to a child 12 or under, on Medicaid insurance. A decrease from five years prior.
For adults on Medicaid, it’s even harder. They often require more costly procedures, so fewer dentists accept adults on state insurance. Plus, yearly financial cap means that many times only emergency dental needs are met.
“It almost feels like you are leaving them with other problems until their insurance resets the next year and I think that’s a frustration,” Garner said.
Dr. Garner said it’s a personal choice to serve a community that she said is especially appreciative, even if the bottom line isn’t a big bankroll.
“Making them have a sense of self esteem and dignity and treating them with compassion, which they don’t find in a lot of places I feel like,” Garner said.
The Iowa Department of Human Services has a website that allows you to see which dentists in your county accept Medicaid.
But patients who spoke with Local 5 Wednesday told us many of the providers they call on that list aren’t accepting new patients.