| A big toothache for seniors | | Posted Tuesday, January 02, 2007 3:00:35 PM by Blog57 Team | | If you're 65, Medicare can help pay for lots of things: doctor visits, medical procedures, prescription drugs. But what if you need a cavity filled? Or a tooth pulled? What if your mouth is throbbing with an abscess? Chances are, you're on your own. Generally, Medicare doesn't cover teeth. That's one reason many older people don't get regular dental care. In 2003, 42 percent of U.S. adults 65 and up hadn't visited a dentist in the past year. Among low-income seniors, more than 60 percent hadn't received dental care. But even seniors who can afford care may not get it. Some are homebound. Until recently, many dentists avoided treating people with serious health conditions, such as dementia. And though Medicaid pays for dental care for low-income seniors, many dentists limit or refuse Medicaid patients because of low reimbursement rates.... | |
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| | | Health costs bury income | | Posted Saturday, December 09, 2006 1:02:11 PM by Blog57 Team | | South Dakota's health care premiums rose four times faster than working families' income the past six years, according to a report issued by a Washington, D.C., group. Families USA said this week that health-care premiums jumped 73.5 percent from 2000 to 2006, while workers' median earnings rose only 18 percent. "It's no secret that health insurance rates have gone up significantly more than wages," said Dave Hewett, president of South Dakota Health Care Organizations. "We have seen employer and insurers transfer more of the cost onto the employee and the employee's family. "We cannot sustain this rate of increase in premiums and have coverage that is affordable to be paid for by employers and by employees." Families USA's report reflects the nationwide trend of higher health care costs.... | |
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| | | Dentists offer services for free | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 7:14:08 AM by Blog57 Team | | Many low-income families cant make regular trips to the dentist without insurance. But with the help of more than 100 dentists, many people received free dental care at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It was 20-year-old Christina Ragsdales first trip to the dentist. She was quite nervous and thought shed get away with a simple cleaning. But her list of dental work included X-rays, a full cleaning and two extractions. "We figured we'd just come and try it and see what it was about, but it's a really great thing that they're doing to help all these people who can't afford dental work," she said. The Texas Mission of Mercy will spend about $12 million this year offering free services across the state. .... | |
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| | | Guardian Dental Survey Reveals: Most Americans Connect Oral Health to Overall Health, | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 11:14:06 AM by Blog57 Team | | 89% of Americans make the connection that their overall health is linked to their dental hygiene according to a consumer dental survey, entitled Benefits and Behavior: Spotlight on Dental, released today by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian). The study shows that Americans tend to see their dentists regularly and reveals oral health differences along gender and generational lines. Benefits and Behavior Seven in ten adult consumers report making a visit to the dentist at least annually, with a surprising 47% of consumers saying they visit the dentist every six months. Women visit dentists more frequently than men. (73%) of the women compared to (66%) of the men surveyed visit the dentist on a regular (once a year or more often) basis. Lack of coverage is the foremost reason why those without dental insurance limit their visits to the dentist.... | |
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| | | GMAC Real Estate Announces Innovative Insurance Program for Real Estate Professionals | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:14:10 AM by Blog57 Team | | Partnership with HR Trust gives agents and their families access to affordable, comprehensive large-group insurance programs RISMEDIA, November 6, 2006Pledging to make health insurance more affordable and at the same time more comprehensive for its 22,000 agents and their families nationwide, GMAC Real Estate (www.gmacrealestate.com) has unveiled an innovative large-group insurance program. Through a partnership with HR Trust, one of the nations leading insurance brokers, GMAC Real Estate, through GMACs Investment and Insurance Services division, is providing individual agents and their families access to the kind of comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage normally available only as part of large-group insurance plans. For far too long, health insurance has been a financial thorn in the side of many real estate agents, and that just hasnt sat well with our company, said Lane Barnett, chief executive officer of GMAC Real Estate Franchise Operations.... | |
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| | | Delta Dental HMO program available through Costco | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 3:16:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | Delta Dental of California kicked off a new partnership with Costco Wholesale Corp. Wednesday to make affordable dental benefits available to the giant retailer's 1.4 million California-based executive members. Effective Nov. 1, a dental HMO program dubbed DeltaCare USA is available online on the Costco Web site. A link takes Costco members to an interactive online site with complete information regarding benefits, dentist locations, billing options and other information. Members can then enroll online. "Dental benefits for individuals who are self-employed or otherwise unable to get insurance through work tend to be expensive and somewhat limited in scope," Belinda Martinez, Delta Dental's senior vice president for sales and marketing, sale in a prepared statement. "What we've done is with Costco to tailor a DeltaCare USA program specifically for Costco executive members, and price it affordably." Delta Dental, a nonprofit dental service company based in San Francisco, serves nearly 21 million members nationwide and has a local workforce of 1,500.... | |
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| | | Military dental insurance carrier expands to San Antonio business ... | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 1:16:44 PM by Blog57 Team | | United Concordia Cos. Inc., a dental insurance company that has long been a familiar provider to San Antonio's thousands of military families, is expanding its offering to local businesses. For the last several weeks, the company has been posting billboards throughout the city asking commuters questions like "What has 200 million teeth and is friendly?" or "What has 200 million teeth and is painless?" .... | |
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| | | NHS ordered to pay boy s 2700 dental bill | | Posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 11:08:21 PM by Blog57 Team | | A COUPLE who remortgaged their home to pay for private dental treatment for their teenage son rather than face a two-year NHS waiting list have been awarded compensation by their local health board. Grampian NHS was told to pay 2700 to the family of Kyle Smith, who had orthodontic treatment two years ago to realign his upper jaw, after an official complaint was upheld by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman's Office. The Smiths were forced to remortgage their home in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, to pay for the treatment for Kyle, who was 13 at the time, after being told there were not enough orthodontic specialists to carry out the operation. This was despite being told it was essential the work was carried out while the teenager was undergoing a "growth spurt". In an official report laid before parliament yesterday, Professor Alice Brown, the ombudsman, criticised the board's waiting list system and recommended that compensation was paid to the family.... | |
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| | | Discount program reduces dental insurance bite | | Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 7:09:25 PM by Blog57 Team | | Most dental insurance plans have proven either too costly or too restrictive for Carole A. Gudde's 50-employee Riverside company, Archive Management Service Inc. After much research, she is pondering a self-funded dental benefit plan through Peelle Financial & Insurance Services in San Diego. And she may look into the state's first licensed discount dental card program. First Dental Health in San Diego plans to sell its New Dental Choice discount card to small businesses and the uninsured beginning Nov. 1. The card is the state's first licensed discount health card since the Department of Managed Health Care began pressing for them in 2004. The New Dental Choice card will cost $8 a month for individuals and $10 a month for families after a one-time $15 administrative fee.... | |
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| | | Specialty Dental Clinic to open at AVRMC on Nov. 9 | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 3:20:45 PM by Blog57 Team | | After months of planning, the new specialty dental clinic at the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center (AVRMC) will open on Nov. 9. The specialty clinic was developed by collaborative support from The Caring for Colorado Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, Otero Junior College Child Development Services, and the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center. Oral surgery services will be provided upon the clinic's opening, with specialty pediatric dental services offered in the coming months.The clinic will open on Nov. 9 with maxillofacial and oral surgery provided by Dr. Justin Bley. Dr. Bley is an oral surgeon with Amos Associates in Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery in Colorado Springs. Bley grew up in Greeley and graduated from Temple Dental School; completing his residency training at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.... | |
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