Just saying…
Big Changes in Medicaid Dental Coverage Could Mean Increased Wait Time 3/1/12
Shelley Childers
CBS 7 News
schilders@cbs7.com
March 1, 2012
ODESSA, TX - Big changes to the Medicaid dental program may mean some children in West Texas have to wait even longer to get treatment.
It's a change that came with very little warning or information from the Medicaid program.
Now it has pediatric dentists across the state scrambling to help their patients maintain their appointments.
"It was a very bad day for pediatric dentists across the state because we do serve the Medicaid population and a lot of patients went without being seen today," said Dr. Joel Edwards, the only pediatric dentist in Odessa who serves Medicaid patients.
He says Medicaid patients went without being seen because of big changes to their insurance coverage that all took effect Thursday.
For years Medicaid dental insurance was a state run program, but now it's being handed over to three different insurance companies Delta Dental, DentaQuest and MCNA Dental.
