Expanding Medicaid Dangerous for Kids’ Health
Monday, January 21st, 2008 By Marc KilmerThe Toledo Blade had an interesting story about how children on Medicaid have trouble finding a dentist:
Low reimbursement rates are chief among the reasons why dentists don’t routinely accept disabled or poor children covered by Medicaid. Programs in Ohio, for example, pay about 51 cents on the dollar, while Medicaid reimbursements in Michigan are even less and vary by plan, dentists and others handling claims say.
As the Buckeye Institute has pointed out previously, Medicaid delivers poor quality care. Expanding Medicaid also moves people off private insurance onto Medicaid. If Medicaid is expanded in Ohio the result will be people receiving lower quality health care as they move from private insurance to Medicaid. Is that really the direction Ohio should be heading?
Tags: Health care
