A headline in the Courier Journal on Jan. 28 read: Kentucky’s proposed 2-year state budget gets some things right but fumbles on child care. The column discusses how there is no Medicaid reimbursement rate increase for dental providers even though “legislators have heard countless testimonies of need to improve oral and overall health outcomes of Kentuckians and keep dental offices open.”
I have written many letters to legislators, along with others, informing them that orthodontists have not had a Medicaid increase in over 23 years. Yes, that is correct, over two decades of no Medicaid rate increase; all the while inflation marches on. Our staff expected and received yearly raises. Our overhead increases on a yearly basis: Supplies, office insurance, leases, etc. It has gotten to the point where enough is enough, the orthodontic office can no longer be expected to operate as a charity while almost every other government and secular sector receives timely increases in salary and reimbursement. This becomes an issue of fairness and economics.