Medicaid Expansion Presents an Opportunity to Secure Dental Coverage for Low-Income Adults

In Washington State, the Medicaid adult dental program was largely eliminated in 2011 due to budget shortfalls.  Thanks to action by the Washington State Legislature, coverage was restored January 1, 2014.

Arcora Foundation and its many partners successfully advocated for the restoration of the Medicaid adult dental program. Success required:

• compelling messages
• strong grassroots advocacy
• a broad-based lobbying coalition
• effective media outreach

These tactics, combined with the right timing and a recovering state economy, led to the restoration of dental coverage for Medicaid-insured adults, which has the potential to benefit more than 775,000 low-income people in Washington.

The opportunity to leverage federal dollars proved to be one of the arguments that persuaded policymakers. Because of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the Medicaid program, the federal government will pay the full cost of dental care for all new enrollees through Medicaid expansion. To learn more about this and other messages that generated bipartisan support for the Medicaid adult dental program, read our advocacy brief.

Trying to Secure Medicaid Adult Dental Coverage in Your State?

No need to re-create the wheel! Adapt our materials to suit your needs:

• Various 1-pagers distributed to policymakers (1, 2, 3)
• Earned Media
• Action alerts, Blog posts
• Radio spots (Emergency Room audio, Diabetes audio)
• Other media touting the importance of oral health (Wall Street Journal, Deseret News, HealthLeaders, Yakima Herald Republic)