FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PRESS RELEASE

Contact: 
Nijmie Dzurinko 814-205-3982; nijmied@gmail.com 
Jamie Blair 412-913-4308; jamiebokanblair@gmail.com 

On Monday, June 8 over 60 residents from across Pennsylvania converged on Harrisburg to demand, “We need our teeth!” Directly impacted Pennsylvanians, clergy, healthcare advocates, and anti-poverty organizers came together to push for the passage of HB 583 and SB 860, legislation that would restore critical adult dental benefits to Medicaid after major cuts were made in 2011. Both bills are stalled in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Photo of participants at “We need our teeth!” press conference

The day was organized by Put People First! PA, a statewide, member-led, staff-free organization that gives voice to everyday people who are struggling to meet their basic needs. Activities included legislative visits with Senators in the Health and Human Services Committee, as well as hand deliveries of hundreds of healthcare story cards to legislators. In between this flurry of activity, participants recorded dozens of healthcare story videos, or #medicaidmondays, a social media campaign Put people First! PA has been consistently running since April 1, 2023, when the Medicaid cut offs began.

The day also included a press conference in the East Wing Rotunda with half a dozen speakers from different counties sharing why they joined the action at the Capitol. They were flanked by participants holding placards with dental horror stories and colorful banners. Watch the livestream here.

Rev. Matthew Best, Pastor and Executive Director of Health Ministries
at Christ Lutheran Church, Harrisburg

Rev. Matthew Best, a Harrisburg Pastor and Executive Director of Health Ministries at Christ Lutheran Church, recounted the story of one community member who came into their dental clinic and needed seven teeth extracted in one visit. “They had no dental insurance. They had waited. Not because they wanted to, but because there was nowhere for them to go.” 

Best continued, “Senate Bill 860 is not charity. It is not a handout…Restoring the adult dental Medicaid benefit means that people who qualify will not have to come to us in crisis. It means they can get care before seven teeth are gone.”

In 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (now DHS) issued a bulletin implementing a cumbersome benefit limit exception (BLE) process that significantly reduced access to dental benefits for the adults on Medicaid. The stated goal of these was to save state dollars, but they have made it difficult for many to receive the necessary preventative dental care for a healthy and productive life. The increased threshold of medical necessity for routine procedures has led to more pain, costly care, and irreversible damage to overall health.

At the press conference Sally Simpson of Armstrong County remarked, “I am standing here today as someone who works two jobs and still cannot afford to fix two fillings that fell out of my teeth. I am on Social Security disability for brain cancer. I have Medicare and Medicaid and neither one covers dental care.” She went on to state that teeth are not simply a cosmetic issue. “Dental disease causes heart disease. It causes diabetes complications. It causes infections that can kill you. Your mouth is part of your body. Your teeth are part of your health. And it is long past time our laws reflected that reality.”

Jonice Turner, Put People First! PA member, Johnstown, PA 

“Me myself has lost two molars in the rear on each side, same place because I could not afford the crown to go over top of my root canal,” Jonice Turner from Johnstown shared. “We are the people who put you guys into office. We use our power to give you the power to give us the benefits that we need to thrive and survive…We should have healthcare, housing and food to feed our children and our families. Pass Senate Bill 860!”

Jason Long from Bloomsburg detailed how a dentist’s mistake during a routine root canal in 2010 caused four of his back molars to break. To fix that mistake and save those teeth, a specialist quoted him $3,000 per tooth. “That was $12,000 total. A working man, with insurance, facing a $12,000 paywall just to keep his own anatomy. The private system gave me an ultimatum, and like millions of others, I had to opt for extraction. But pulling those teeth wasn’t the end of it. It triggered a domino effect… Over the years, without the baseline care to halt the damage, the rest of my teeth began to deteriorate.” 

Long told the crowd, “Today, I am on Medicaid—the safety net that is supposed to catch people—and I am sitting here watching my teeth actively rot out of my head because adult dental benefits were gutted.”

Instead of saving $18.9 million in the state budget, these cuts to the Adult Dental Benefit have generally increased medical costs as Pennsylvanians sought oral health relief in more intensive settings like emergency departments. Treating a condition in an emergency department is three times more costly than in a dental office. Additionally, emergency departments provide only temporary relief, leading to recurring visits. Senate Bill 860 amends the Human Services Code and directs the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to restore the adult dental Medicaid benefit to its pre-2011 state. The projected cost is approximately $19.8 million in state funds. 

Nicole Payonk, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health, expressed, “Dental disease is largely preventable, yet our system too often pays for crisis care instead of prevention…The cost of providing comprehensive dental care is real, but the cost of delaying care is far greater—for patients, families, communities, and our health care system.”

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Put People First! PA (PPF-PA) is a statewide, member-led, staff-free organization that gives voice to everyday people who are struggling to meet their basic needs. Founded in 2012, the organization is active in more than 40 counties across Pennsylvania, uniting working class people across the urban/rural, racial, and party divides through the struggle for healthcare as a human right. In 2016 PPF-PA won the first ever public hearing on rising insurance rates. Since the ending of pandemic protections under Biden and further cuts under Trump they have achieved a 93% success rate in winning Medicaid appeals for people who have been cut off. 

Click here to learn more about the Adult Dental Benefit or click here to read Put People First! PA’s full Healthcare is a Human Right Platform.