Dentistry, Insurance, and Children With Special Healthcare Needs

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America has a large population of children with special healthcare needs. According to the census of 2009, nearly 14% of all children in the USA aged between 3 to 17 have some sort of disability (Statistics of children, 2013). Since the medical system in the country is largely insurance-based, it is paramount for these children to have full-time coverage in order to address their healthcare needs, whenever they arise. Despite numerous programs being in place to subsidize children with special healthcare needs, USA healthcare remains notoriously inefficient. Insurance companies are reluctant to provide children with autism, Aspergers syndrome, depression, and other healthcare disabilities with insurance, as it is not profitable to them. Nevertheless, it is important to seek out new ways of providing the children with whatever healthcare they need to ensure their survival and functioning in our society. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of insurance in healthcare for children with special healthcare needs and provide suggestions for organized dentistry to ensure that the children are given the required dental care.

According to Jeffrey and Newacheck (2006), children with special healthcare needs are a particularly vulnerable subpopulation of children. Medical insurance is important to them, as the expenditures on out-of-pocket medical payments for the uninsured are much bigger than those of the insured patients (Jeffrey & Newacheck, 2006). At the same time, many children cannot get healthcare coverage due to the demands for medical insurance being too steep. According to another study performed in 2009, around 40% of children with special healthcare needs remain uninsured during certain periods of the year or have inadequate coverage (Newacheck et al., 2009). It presents a danger to this vulnerable population group, as they would be forced to pay the medical bills out of their pockets, which is not always possible due to the limitations of the family budget. Raising a child with autism or Aspergers syndrome is expensive, as they have special needs in many aspects of their lives, not just healthcare.

Dentistry is one of the most expensive medical fields in the USA. The ever-growing prices are the reason why only 36% of all Americans in need of dental care actually visit the dentist (Potter, 2014). Less than a half of Americans have dental care included in their insurance list. These costs become even higher if the person in question has no insurance and has to pay out of pocket. Since the topic of concern is dental care for uninsured children with special healthcare needs, there are several ways to improve the situation.

The first thing that could be done is to reduce the price of dental care for these special groups of patients. The dental industry is grossly overpaid compared to other healthcare providers, with dentists earning from 180,000 to 350,000 USD a year, while not providing any life-saving healthcare services (Potter, 2014). The tradition of paying this much for dental services is not economically justified, but rather a deleterious habit that takes roots in the dental crisis of the 1950s (Potter, 2014). Another thing that dentists could do to provide dental care to children with special needs is to push for increased coverage for this vulnerable population group. If insurances become more affordable to vulnerable populations, more children will be able to receive affordable dental care.

References

Jeffrey, A.E., & Newacheck, P.W. (2006). Role of insurance for children with special health care needs: A synthesis of the evidence. Pediatrics, 118(4), 1027-1038. Web.

Newacheck, P.W., Houtrow, A.J., Romm, D.L., Kuhlthau, K.A., Bloom, S.R., Van Cleave, J.M., & Perrin, J.M. (2009). The future of health insurance for children with special health care needs. Pediatrics, 123(5), 940-947. Web.

Potter, W. (2014). Why a trip to the dentist costs so much now and what we can do about it. The Huffington Post. Web.

Statistics of children with special needs. (2013). Web.

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