Medicare eventually may cover dental costs--but what about the children?
Government programs, particularly Medicare, provide extremely limited funds for dental services. As a result, the government absorbs fewer dental costs than the costs for other health services. Despite the need for support of dental services for children, it may become politically expedient to support the expansion of Medicare to include dental care for the increasing numbers of dentate baby boomers. The economic case for Medicare dentistry is presented as a harbinger for continued underfunding by the federal government for dental care for children.
Waldman
H Barry
HB
Department of General Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine SUNY at Stony Brook, NY, USA. hwaldman@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Perlman
Steven P
SP
D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016321:Dental Care for Aged / Q000191:economics*; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000191:economics*; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000191:economics; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011203:Poverty; D014481:United States