Most Americans today tend to minimize their expenses on having dental cares and check-ups. Even if there are insurances out there and government help, it still can’t change the fact that Americans can’t afford to go to the dentist anymore.
Reasons
Insurance- Research shows that almost half of the American people don’t have dental insurances. And many of those insured people still don’t go to dental offices because of the small coverage their insurances and employers contribute. There are even some conditions to the coverage’s of dental care when you are employed. For example, if you have already had a missing tooth before you were even hired, they won’t pay for its replacement. And there are dental plans which limits do not even pay half of the total cost.
Increasing Cost- From 2008 to 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics concluded that dental care has increased significantly with its cost more than all other healthcare sectors. With this rate, the dentist now has the most paying salary compared to other physicians.
Dental Pricing- Another reason why most of the Americans are not going to dental check-up anymore is that the total costs of the services are not really being shown to the public. The people are afraid of going to clinics and not knowing how much they will spend there. There have been some movements of people trying to build websites that would allow the Americans know how many dental services cost in their own town or city. But as the dentists were being interviewed, they learned that the dentists don’t have an exact price for a specific procedure. Prices can vary almost as 700 percent even if the clinics are found in the same town.
Through this website known as Brighter.com, Americans can now compare dentists and their prices. Even the companies are now using this website to save more money for their employees’ dental care.
Dental Care
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is trying to convince lawmakers to change their perception of dental care. They are eager to help the Americans stop oral disease because of lack of money. They are trying to make lawmakers invest their resources and time to three factors, and these are:
Coverage of Insurances and Benefits- They want the insurance coverage to be expanded for the Americans to afford dental care. By doing so, less money will come out of the Americans pockets.
Workforce- It is important that people can go to dental a clinic that is close to their towns. It should also be supported by the government financially, most especially to rural and poor areas.
Education and Prevention- Educating American citizens about oral diseases and teaching them how to prevent it from happening through seminars and conventions performed by professional health teachers.
The ACA believes that with proper distribution of finances, the Americans can easily go to dental check-ups. The prices of services should also be shown to the public from all the private and public clinics in order for the people to know where they should exactly go and how much money they should prepare before going there. They also believe that it is not a luxury to have healthy gums and teeth but it is essential to the lives of every person.
