What does Medicaid cover for dental for adults?
According to this updated CareQuest Institute report on Medicaid adult dental benefits, 20 states now offer additional dental coverage to specific beneficiary groups, including pregnant and postpartum adults, adults with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities, and adults utilizing long-term care.
The report includes a rubric of states offering different coverage to specific groups of adult beneficiaries within eight categories, including annual benefit maximum, diagnostic, preventive, restorative, endodontic, periodontal, prosthodontic, and extraction.
Additional Key Findings
- Eleven states cover dental services for pregnant adults that are not provided to other adult beneficiaries. Seven states also provide these services to postpartum adults.
- Twelve states cover dental services for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities that are not provided to other adult beneficiaries.
- Three states cover dental services for adults utilizing long-term care that are not provided to other adult beneficiaries.
Medicaid adult dental benefits are classified as “optional,” which means that states can limit or exclude adult dental services covered.
You may also be interested in:
- 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.
- Medicaid Adult Dental Benefits Are on the Move in 2024, in this blog, a policy expert explores how Medicaid adult dental coverage continues to gain traction, as the number of states providing adult dental benefits is growing.
- Uninsured and in Need, a visual report that estimates more than 68 million US adults do not have dental insurance.
