Financing: Access to Affordable, Quality Dental Care
Uninsured children are 2.5 times less likely that children with dental coverage to receive care.
Financial barriers remain the primary reason individuals lack access to oral health services. Annual dental expenditures in the U.S. exceeded $72 billion in 2004, with the averaged dental expense of $560 per person ($612 privately insured, $326 publicly insured, $482 uninsured). About 35 percent of the US population has no dental coverage – significantly more than those medically uninsured. In fact, for every child without medical insurance there are nearly three children without dental insurance.
Dental coverage remains a significant indicator of access to coverage – although does not guarantee access to care. Uninsured children are 2.5 times less likely that children with dental coverage to receive care. Therefore, CDHP works to eliminate the increasing financial barriers by promoting policies that ensure coverage and increase access to care for all children.
Like medical insurance, a child can be covered by public or private dental insurance. CDHP focuses on the following areas of coverage:
- Public Insurance
- Medicaid
- CHIP
- Private Insurance
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