Medicaid changes could prevent some poor children from getting braces. Click below for information.
Snaggletooth could soon be a common nickname in New York again.
That’s just one of the labels stuck on kids who have crooked teeth, and city orthodontists say there are going to be a lot more of them after Oct. 1 when state Medicaid changes go into effect.
Decisions about who among poor children will get braces and who won’t will now be made by three private health providers: United Health Care, Healthplex, and Dentaquest.
“It’s undeniable that these kids are not going to have the same level of coverage,” said Bronx orthodontist Dr. Kenneth Cooperman. “New York state has hired private, for-profit insurance companies to take over. These companies have bottom lines, and they use a 26-point system they’ve used in other states that is much more restrictive.”
Not everybody needs to have a Halle Berry smile. But in a judgmental society, crooked teeth can often have a negative impact on self-esteem.
“I never smiled before and I never talked. My teeth were turned out and in before,” said Damien Jackson, an 18-year-old aspiring astrophysics student at LaGuardia High who just got sprung from his braces of four years paid for under the old Medicaid system. “I feel more confident now.”
