Mass. health reform helped adults' access to dental care

Massachusetts' 2006 health reform law has significantly increased access to dental care for adults, especially poor adults, according to new research by health economists at the ADA's Health Policy Resources Center (Health Affairs, September 2013, Vol. 32:9, pp. 1639-1645).

Authors Kamyar Nasseh, PhD, and Marko Vujicic, PhD, examined the effects on adults' access to dental care in Massachusetts between 2004 and 2010 in the wake of that state's healthcare reform.

The law had a particularly strong impact on poor adults who became eligible for enhanced dental benefits through both MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, and through the health insurance marketplace, according to Nasseh. Dental care use among that group increased 11% between 2004 and 2010, he noted.

Although the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act largely ignores dental benefits for adults, the experiences in Massachusetts and elsewhere show that states have ample policy options available to enhance access to dental care, the study authors concluded.