Why Doesn’t Medicare Pay For Dental Care?
Some dental care covered
For those who may have heard such a thing mentioned, this statement needs to be modified. For one thing, if dental services are required to protect your general health, then Medicare will indeed cover them. This applies, for instance, if a patient requires surgery to treat a facial or mandibular fracture; one cannot, however, receive coverage beyond what is required for the underlying health condition. In addition, some private Medicare plans do cover routine dental services.
Why dentistry is not covered
But the fact is that dental care — like hearing aids and eyeglasses — is excluded by the statutes that created both Social Security and Medicare from coverage in those programs: Changing that would require an act of Congress. The reason for such exclusion is because dentistry is not considered a branch of medicine; dental work is not performed by physicians in hospitals. Dentistry did not even develop as a separate profession until the nineteenth century, and has always required a separate training program, degree (D.D.S. or D.M.D.) and license, from the work done by doctors with an M.D. For much of its history, dental work was relatively inexpensive; it consisting of nothing more than repairs and removal of teeth and the construction of dentures. The need for dental insurance was seen as less urgent than the need for medical insurance, because teeth decay slowly, and medicine — such as aspirin or acetaminophen — exists which can ease the pain. So the need for insurance to cover treatment of caries was not seen as urgent enough to justify Medicare coverage.
One last word
Medicaid does cover dentistry.
8 Responses to “Why Doesn’t Medicare Pay For Dental Care?”
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Dear Sir and/or Madam:
Your website is informative. With respect to your explanation regarding why dental care is not covered by Medicare, I would like to direct you to the following article published in 1980 by Dr. H. BARRY WALDMAN, DDS, PHD, MPH, entitled “The Reaction of the Dental Profession to Changes in the 1970s.” In the article, Dr. Waldman notes:
“In the mid-1960s, during the Congressional review
of the then pending Medicare and Medicaid legislation, the
ADA opposed dental care for the aged under the Medicare
bill, while lobbying for the inclusion of dentistry as a benefit
under the proposed extension to the Kerr-Mills legislation
for services to the poor (Medicaid).”
As it turns out, the American Dental Association (ADA) opposed (and continues to oppose) dental care for the aged under the Medicare bill.
I can forward you a copy of this article if you would like.
Thank You.
Sincerely,
Jake Wong
Medicare should be forced to cover dental care for women with serve osteoporosis. I have that, and my teeth have been fracturing below the gumline. I now have five broken lower teeth, and am being denied care. A low income dental clinic will not cover me, they are afraid of fracturing my jaw. I have an infection that can kill me. As soon as I am through these antibiotics, I have to start all over again, trying to find help. Women with severe osteoporosis are as high risk as people with dialysis, chemo or radiation. Our immunity system is weakened, we can die of infections of our blood, heart or brain, but no one cares or wants to help.
Thk Treatment
yes i have a very good question why does medicaide pay for dental and eye exams and glasses and people are given medicaide at no cost to them but i have to pay over a hundred dollars a month for medicaire whether i use it or not and eyes and dental work are not covered seems to me something is definitely wrong they have it totally backwards what is wrong with the system and beleive me i am not the only one asking this question.
Because obama has everything fucked up and does not care about low or middle class people and everyone will see and realize hr is the antichrist and to think I voted for his sorry ass?
The Medicare program does not cover routine dental care, hearing aids or eyeglasses for they are statutorily excluded from coverage.
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