Overview
Tooth Cents™ in the news
Resources
Contact

Wisconsin's low-income children and adults are unable to access dental care with the same frequency as patients who are not dependent on the state's Medicaid/BadgerCare (MA) program. Dental access improves in states where fair market rates are implemented. The WDA asks the Legislature to prioritize dental funding within the current state budget by increasing dental MA reimbursements to the 75th percentile of the most recent American Dental Association fee survey for this region of the country.

If legislators are unwilling to prioritize funding for dental access within the financial parameters of the current state budget, the WDA proposes fair reimbursement rates be provided by implementing a fee on distributors, manufacturers and wholesale dealers of soda.

This would include two dollars per gallon of soft drink syrup and 21 cents per gallon of bottled soft drinks or soft drinks produced from powder. The estimated impact is less than two cents per 12-ounce can of soda.  Hence, Two Cents for Tooth Sense™ (Tooth Cents™). This could generate approximately $70 million in additional revenue each year.

The WDA further recommends the new funds be placed in trust for the specific purpose of reimbursing all dental MA procedures at a fair rate and that any Tooth Cents™ revenue not used to improve the dental MA program be spent on dental education projects affiliated with Marquette University School of Dentistry and public health groups.

The proposal also recommends Tooth Cents™ revenues collected during a state fiscal year and not spent in that time period remain in trust for funding fair dental MA reimbursement rates and oral health education in the next year.

Read Senate Bill 117

Wisconsin dentists donate millions of dollars worth of treatment each year to the state's low-income residents. Click on the document below to view a sampling of WDA members' charitabel care statistics, which demonstrate that DDS also stands for "Dentists Do Serve" their communities and the underserved population in a variety of ways. Charitable care is wonderful, but it is not a viable system for delivering dental care to the state's MA recipients.

• Dentists Do Serve summary

*Please note the Wisconsin Medicaid program is run and operated by the state and, as such, the WDA does NOT track dentists who accept Medicaid patients. To find dentists in your area who accept Medicaid, call the state's toll-free hotline number at 800-362-3002.

Tooth Cents™ in the news

The WDA has advocated for some time for the state to place a higher priority on funding their promises of oral health care to the state’s MA population. The association has urged lawmakers to pursue meaningful solutions for the state’s dental access problem which include increasing the reimbursement for dental services.

Studies show excessive consumption of soda negatively impacts a person's dental health, so there is legitimate argument for using soda-fee revenues to improve MA dental care access. Since 2003, WDA members have spent a significant amount of their own financial resources educating the public on the "Sip All Day, Get Decay" message.

• View the WDA issue ad (appeared Spring 2007 Capitol Report Wisconsin)
• View the second WDA issue ad (appeared in Fall 2007 Capitol Report Wisconsin)

Wisconsin Public Radio interviewed WDA President-Elect Dr. Monica Hebl (Milwaukee) during the Joy Cardin show on Aug. 15, 2007 about the Tooth Cents™ bill and how the state needs to fulfill its commitment to provide dental care to low-income children and adults by prioritizing dental MA funding within the budget. She also discussed the need to simplify paperwork with a dental-only administrator to make the program easier for dental offices to participate in treating MA patients.

• Listen to the segment

The Capital Times quoted WDA President Dr. Eva Dahl (Onalaska) in August 2007 who said she is pleased the plight of low-income people has finally reached the attention of the state's lawmakers. Medicaid patients are in pain and missing work or school because of untreated tooth problems while they are unable to find a dentist to treat them.

• Read the article 

Dental MA and Tooth Cents™ have been the subjects of several favorable editorials in some of Wisconsin's major daily newspapers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured an editorial by writer Jerry Resler who stresses lawmakers need to find money to improve access to dental care, especially for kids covered by MA. 

• Read the editorial

The La Crosse Tribune editorial board ran an opinion piece on April 13 that says the state should be responsible for ensuring poor people can get adequate dental care. The editors point out that poor people have been without dental care for years because reimbursement rates are so low. The state would only need to spend $20 million more to increase reimbursement rates to a level that would enable more dentists to participate in the program.

• Read the editorial

The Wisconsin State Journal featured an editorial on March 1, 2006 titled "Give more kids reason to smile" that says lawmakers need to consider incentives for dentists to provide services to the poor; because reimbursement rates are so low, many dentists aren't able to accept new MA/BadgerCare patients. Dental problems are the biggest health-related reasons kids, especially those from low-income families, in Dane County miss school.

• Read the editorial

If you want to show your support for Tooth Cents™ and better dental access for MA patients, here are some resources to help you communicate with your state lawmakers:

• Tooth Cents™ Talking Points

• Request Support for Increasing Reimbursement Rates Creating a Dental Medicaid Trust Fund

• Tips for Communicating with elected officials

• Printer-friendly call-to-aciton cards to share with friends, family members and colleagues 

MA patients are encouraged to contact their state legislators and ask for support in making oral health care a priority in the current state budget by allocating $20-$30 million in state funds for dental MA. As proven in other states, increasing dental reimbursement to a fair-market rate will allow dental MA enrollees to access dental services with little to no difficulty. 

Below are flyers and information for MA recipients to use to encourage their legislators to increase funding for the state's dental MA program. 

Flyer for how MA recipients can contact their legislators and what to tell them:

• English
• Spanish

If you and/or your organization wants to be recognized as a Tooth Cents™ coalition member in communications with legislators and the media, please notify WDA Director of Public Relations Carol Weber, APR at 414-755-4108 or cweber@wda.org.