Prioritizing Children's Dental Care

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"Last week, HHS published a final rule on the benefits that created a separate out-of-pocket limit for stand-alone dental plans, but only specifies that the limit be 'reasonable.' An additional out-of-pocket limit will make that -- the benefit far less affordable to many families -- It was not what Congress intended. The whole point of adding pediatric dental benefits to the essential health benefit package was to make certain that oral health not be considered separate from overall health. We have been here before. This is -- this approach is similar to policies that were set decades ago for mental health services. Separate policies to cover mental health treatment, separate limits on coverage and separate co-pays. Mental health was treated as second-class health care. We know now that this was an injustice. It was wrong to treat those services and patients who use them as second class.

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