BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — If you're on Medicaid, relief is on the way as many low-income Western New Yorkers will soon have access to better dental care.
This comes under a new legal settlement reached on Monday of having the New York Department of Health lifting most of its restrictive rules for Medicaid recipients like getting a root canal treated and other dental implants.
Dentists at the Baker Victory Dental Center tell 7 News reporter Yoselin Person that their center has 80 percent of patients with Medicaid or Medicaid managed care.
Those are the patients that have been negatively impacted by what they say is the state’s poor reimbursement of dental care.
“It’s a positive move forward and the reason why I say that is because historically these patients would have to take money out of pocket to try to pay for services that are not covered by the state and that’s already difficult when you’re low-income,” says Gail Nadolina-Wesolowski, a Dental Administrator at Baker Victory Dental Center.
According to the Associated Press, this new dental change will expand dental coverage for at least 5 million people.
A dental hygienist of Baker Victory Dental Center, Ashley Krupski, says she hopes other dental clinics will welcome those in need.
“There are very few providers around here that are accepting it because of the reimbursements,” says Krupski, a dental hygienist at Baker Victory Dental Center. “So I’m hoping that because they’re expanding the services that they cover that more offices will begin to accept the coverage and that these individuals will have a better option to go to different offices.”
The new dental rules by the state will take effect 90 days after a court approves the settlement agreement.
