Don't eliminate adult dental benefits

As the state faces challenging economic times, the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee has proposed removing adult dental benefits from Commonwealth Care and MassHealth.

[professor]

<<It is also important to realize that dental disease also impacts labor productivity — 164 million hours of work are lost in the United States due to dental disease, or an average of 148 hours per 100 employed persons.>>

First you were talking about 300,000 low income seniors and disabled. Then unexpectedly you switched to number of hour lost by working people??? These massholes liberal dermoratic "social workers" and "community organizers" will do anything to keep their jobs and drive taxpayers into the ground!!!
BTW, how many hours per 100 employed persons lost in the US due to heart diseases, automobile accidents, diarrhea, sexually transmitted diseases , etc. And also 148 hours lost in a day, month, year, decade or from the beginning of time? That what these people get paid for??? Calculating this BS!

[Tricia]

If the cuts have to be made in dental, I think that the disabled should be allowed to keep their dental benefits. The disabled have much less chance of improving their situation due to the fact that many of them simply can't work due to health issues. Low income people on the other hand at least have a chance of trying to get a better job or of finding a way to somehow pay for basic dental care. I think that these cuts will be particularly hard on the disabled who are definitely on fixed incomes. The disabled should not always be lumped together with low income people, but should be in a separate category for obvious reasons.

[professor]

Tricia wrote:

If the cuts have to be made in dental, I think that the disabled should be allowed to keep their dental benefits. The disabled have much less chance of improving their situation due to the fact that many of them simply can't work due to health issues. Low income people on the other hand at least have a chance of trying to get a better job or of finding a way to somehow pay for basic dental care. I think that these cuts will be particularly hard on the disabled who are definitely on fixed incomes. The disabled should not always be lumped together with low income people, but should be in a separate category for obvious reasons.

"Disabled" already have such benefits that not a single hard working citizen can dream of. Not to mention that huge percentage of "disabled" are pure fraud (bad backs type crooks), surrounded by crowds of "social workers", which is another form of welfare by itself..

[Tricia]

professor wrote:

<quoted text>
"Disabled" already have such benefits that not a single hard working citizen can dream of. Not to mention that huge percentage of "disabled" are pure fraud (bad backs type crooks), surrounded by crowds of "social workers", which is another form of welfare by itself..

Agreed. There are those who try to pretend they have a disabilty, but I think there are fewer disabled who abuse the system than there are those who abuse the welfare system. Most of the welfare recipients are young and healthy while those on disability are in many cases older and sick. Just eliminating those who are only on welfare from the dental program would be much more fair than eliminating everybody and some money would be saved.

[Chip Joffe-Halpern]

Late last night, after this letter went to press, MassHealth and Comonwealth Care dental benefits were restored in the state Senate Budget. Thanks so much to the Massachusetts Senate.

[professor]

I have no doubt that they will bunkropt this sate and drive more working people and businesses out of this assochusetts. They were doing it sucessfuly for last 30 years an definetly do not stop now, when they have support form "community organiser".

[Tricia]

Chip Joffe-Halpern wrote:

Late last night, after this letter went to press, MassHealth and Comonwealth Care dental benefits were restored in the state Senate Budget. Thanks so much to the Massachusetts Senate.

Good. I am glad especially on behalf of the disabled members of society.

[Alice T]

There is no need to cut anything. Just raise taxes. We love to pay taxes in Massachusetts. The proof is in who we elect to run the place. Working people can always cut back or get a second job. They just waste their money anyway. The government can never cut back. All government spending is essential.

[Just Curious]

The fact is, it's mostly the middle class that goes without dental care. Many companies do not provide dental insurance as part of their benefit package. The elderly and poor, for the most part, get dental care from the goverment. It's the middle class that far too often cannot afford proper dental care.

[eddie-O]

Alice T wrote:

There is no need to cut anything. Just raise taxes. We love to pay taxes in Massachusetts. The proof is in who we elect to run the place. Working people can always cut back or get a second job. They just waste their money anyway. The government can never cut back. All government spending is essential.

Well said Alice.
We are always told that a new tax increase will just becomparable to a 'cup of coffee a day' well over the last few years those cups of coffee add up.

Why can't the govt (fed,state,local) open an account for people who whish to pay to send the money to.

[Chip Joffe-Halpern]

New to Massachusetts this past year is the opportunity for those who aren't offered dental benefits through their employer, to purchase dental plans on their own. The rates are reasonable, to learn more go to: http://www.deltamass.com/dental_plans/individ...

[Jeremiah]

Adult Dental No More Medical? To me this is just short of a disaster , sending us back to the 19th century where dental care will be only for the rich. Dental Care has been proven to be the most common cause of serious medical conditions developed prior to age 35 , without state coverage the life expectancy for the poor can be expected to drop dramatically. For instance , here is my scenereo , I am 35 years old working 3 jobs and scraping a living together for my family. I live in a town where none of the dentists will even except state medical and am looking at nearly 200 miles to find a dentist who will even see me. I am in need of an excess of $20,000 of dental work done on myself with no realistic chance for me to ever be able to afford it. Without state coverage I will not be able to get the dental work I NEED DONE , my doctor has told me my dental problems are already leading to heart damage and if not fixed will be my downfall. Now i am just one person who works hard , what about those whom are elderly , disabled or unemployed...OUT OF LUCK I GUESS. So in conclusion my point is , 15-20% of california residents cannot afford the dental work we need to have done. Without the dental work we will not be able to get or keep jobs that have any public contact (because of our missing or ugly teeth) and we will all die at a younger age. People need to speak up and make their voice count before it is to late to fix this. New law states that nobody will be eligible for dental care after the age of 21. Parent's will have a new financial responsability to their children whom have already left the home but cannot afford their own dental care , This is really an epic disaster in the making... HELP & SPEAK UP NOW