Association between Medicaid Dental Payment Policies and Children's Dental Visits, Oral Health, and School Absences

Abstract

Importance: Although all state Medicaid programs cover children's dental services, less than half of publicly insured children receive recommended care. Objective: To evaluate the association between the ratio of Medicaid payment rates to dentist charges for an index of services (fee ratio) and children's preventive dental visits, oral health, and school absences. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study, a difference-in-differences analysis was conducted between September 2021 and April 2022 of 15738 Medicaid-enrolled children and a control group of 16867 privately insured children aged 6 to 17 years who participated in the 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. Exploratory subgroup analyses by sex and race and ethnicity were also performed. A 2-sided P