For the last several months, as President Biden has worked toward his major spending package of, among other things, infrastructure and healthcare, there have been concerns in the dental industry of dental benefits being forced through as part of Medicaid.
Since dentistry as a profession is far removed and separate from the practice of medicine, rules and regulations that govern medicine as part of Medicare would be completely unsuited for dentistry. Basically it would be forcing a square peg (dentistry) into the round hole of Medicare.
The differences between the two professions and the way they practice would mean than many of the regulations set up to govern medicine and its relationship to the federal government payment system would be completely non-feasible for dentistry.
The amount of work it would take from the federal government as well as from dentistry would be extremely difficult to meet with the laws the way they are at the current time. I am grateful that the American Dental Association has met with the administration and explained the difficulties of implementing the current proposal. This would have been a disaster for both patients and the doctors that care for them.
I could type several more paragraphs and *possibly* manage to somewhat explain why this plan would not work for all concerned, but the ADA has done a much better job of this than I probably ever could. If you would like to read the organization's FAQ on the ADA's Medicare Benefit Proposal, follow the link.
The American Dental Association does an outstanding job of looking out for patients and for the profession of dentistry. This is another example of why I gladly pay my dues each and every year.
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