AUTHOR=Naavaal Shillpa , Harless David W. 

TITLE=Comprehensive pregnancy dental benefits improved dental coverage and increased dental care utilization among Medicaid-enrolled pregnant women in Virginia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oral Health

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oral-health/articles/10.3389/froh.2022.989659

DOI=10.3389/froh.2022.989659

ISSN=2673-4842

ABSTRACT=Objectives. To evaluate the changes in dental insurance and utilization among pregnant women before and after the pregnancy Medicaid dental benefit policy implementation in 2015 in Virginia.

Methods. We used pooled cross-sectional data from six cycles of the Virginia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System on women aged ≥21 years. Using logistic regression models and a difference-in-difference design, we compared the effects of policy implementation on dental insurance and utilization between pre-policy (2013-2014) and post-policy period (2016-2019) among women enrolled in Medicaid (treatment, N=1,105) versus those with private insurance (control, N=2,575). A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant.

Results. Among Medicaid-enrolled women, the report of dental insurance (71.6%) and utilization (37.7%) was higher in the post-period compared to their pre-period (44.4% and 30.3%, respectively) estimates but still remained lower than the post-period estimates among women with private insurance (88.0% and 59.9%, respectively). Adjusted analyses found that Medicaid-enrolled women had a significantly greater change in the probability of reporting dental insurance in all post-period years than women with private insurance, while the change in the probability of utilization only became statistically significant in 2019. In 2019, there was a 16 percentage point increase (95% CI = 0.05, 0.28) in the report of dental insurance and a 17 percentage point increase (95% CI = 0.01-0.33) in utilization in treatment group compared to controls. 

Conclusions. The 2015 pregnancy Medicaid dental benefit increased dental insurance and dental care utilization among Medicaid-enrolled women and reduced associated disparities between Medicaid and privately insured groups.