More than 9 in 10 voters nationwide (92%) support adding a dental benefit to Medicare, according to results of a new national poll commissioned by CareQuest Institute and the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN). The findings were first presented at the 2024 OPEN Advocacy Assembly on July 17.
Key findings include:
- 85% of respondents who voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020 and 99% of those who voted for the Democratic candidate in those two elections would like to see a dental benefit added to Medicare.
- When ranking health care topics they find “most important,” voters rank adding dental coverage to Medicare just as highly as abortion.
- Nine out of 10 voters want expanded coverage to include dental services for veterans.
- 74% of voters support adding adult dental benefits to Medicaid at the state or federal level.
- Additional polling was conducted in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania with results consistent with the national polling. Expanded dental coverage in Medicare, Medicaid, and for veterans is similarly popular in these key battleground states.
The national polling was conducted by Marketing for Change Co. from May 29 – June 4, 2024, using a representative sample of 1,000 registered voters nationwide from the YouGov online panel. The margin of error is +/- 3.1%. Marketing for Change also conducted separate polling in Michigan (n=765), Ohio (n=761) and Pennsylvania (n=760) using the Centiment online panel between May 30 and June 13. The margin of error for those surveys was between +/- 3.54% and +/-3.55%.
You may also be interested in:
- Dental Coverage for Seniors is Wildly Popular. Why Don’t Candidates Discuss It?, a USA Today article explores why the issue of dental coverage has gained little traction in health care policy despite the need among many Americans.
- Uninsured and in Need, a visual report, part of our State of Oral Health Equity in America series, estimates more than 68 million US adults do not have dental insurance.
- Medicaid Adult Dental Coverage Checker, an interactive tool for policymakers, administrators, and advocates to easily understand where a given state’s Medicaid adult dental benefits package falls on a continuum from no dental benefits to extensive benefits.
