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Dentists who dont accept Medicaid

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Has anyone ever went to go get their teeth cleaned or something, and the dentist told you " Oh we um....dont accept medicaid"

You should be happy youre cleaning teeth in this country, and respect the medicaid, they make the card gold now just incase you happen to be a playa hater!

Seriously though, I think its wrong that a practitioner is going to turn someone away whos on medicaid.
 
Not if you work for the dentist.

I can tell you from a medical perspective that any practioner that takes more than 35% of their patients from medicaid will not be able to make overhead. In Savanna, Georgia there is only one obstetrician left who takes medicaid, she makes $40,000 a year, she can't afford to pay for decent staff and practices without liability insurance since she can't afford the $250,000/ year premium despite having never been sued. Her counterparts who don't take medicaid make nice six figure salaries.

An employee of a medical or dental office expects retirement benefits and yearly raises and workman's comp, christmas bonuses etc.

If a general internist sits down with a medicaid patient and does a pap smear, diagnoses and manages her diabetes and gives a cortisone injection in her shoulder for rotator cuff tendonitis, she gets $2.00 from the patient and $75.00 for the visit from medicaid.(Even though the office charge was $175.00) The disposable speculum for the pap costs $15.00, the depomedrol vial cost $9.00, the needle and syringe and cytology container for the pap smear is probably another $10.00 the 30 minutes of time took up two patient slots for other patients with acute illnesses, that leaves $45.00 left from the visit to pay for the salary and benefits of the phone girl that took her appt over the phone, the salary and benefits of the nurse who took her blood pressure and the salary and benefits of the girl who checked her in and out. Nothing is left for the doctor. I can't speak for a dentist since their charges are different. But, you can see why more and more practioners do not take medicaid or limit their medicaid numbers. (our facility limits it to 28% of the patient population for each independant practioner office just for this reason.)

You would be hard pressed to see medical practioners deny outright seeing medicaid since many feel ethically bound to treat patients regardless. However, since dental matters may not be life and death situations, that is a whole other ethical dilemma.
 
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Employee_of_the_Month said:
Has anyone ever went to go get their teeth cleaned or something, and the dentist told you " Oh we um....dont accept medicaid"

You should be happy youre cleaning teeth in this country, and respect the medicaid, they make the card gold now just incase you happen to be a playa hater!

Seriously though, I think its wrong that a practitioner is going to turn someone away whos on medicaid.


News flash: Where I live, you hygienists get paid $45 or more to clean someone's teeth.

Medicaid pays $40 for a cleaning. Which means dentists lose $5 up front on every cleaning, plus payroll taxes, plus office overhead.

You should be happy our country has so much welfare for parasites. Do YOU have a job where you lose money by working?
 
How you gonna adress welfare recipients as parasites when most of the upperclass are just living nice lives on working people's money. Thats rude.
 
Employee_of_the_Month said:
How you gonna adress welfare recipients as parasites when most of the upperclass are just living nice lives on working people's money. Thats rude.
The "working people's money"? Go looking for a job, and you will not find the "working people" offering you one. Those with money and a desire to invest, invent, produce, etc. are the ones who offer the jobs.
If it is a welfare state you want, join the military. They will give you free medical, food, a place to sleep, etc. There is a certain sacrifice on your part, tho. You give up your freedom for a certain amount of years, and if you don't have the smarts to get some non-combatant type training from them, you might end up as cannon fodder, so there is a certain risk involved as well.
 
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