UnitedHealth concurs with House panel that access to dental care lacking for child Medicaid beneficiaries in Maryland

UnitedHealth Group Senior Vice President Judah Sommer in a letter to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy agreed with a panel finding that thousands of Maryland children enrolled in the company's Medicaid plan were unable to receive dental care after initially denying the claims, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 10/25).

Subcommittee staff reviewed billing and service information from United Healthcare and found that more than 10,780 children eligible for Medicaid in Maryland have not received dental care in at least four years, and an additional 22,110 low-income children have not seen a dentist in at least two years. The review found that seven dentists in Prince George's County were providing more than half of dental services to the county's 45,000 to 50,000 child Medicaid beneficiaries. An Oct. 2 letter from the subcommittee faulted United Healthcare's administration of Medicaid beneficiaries. Steven Matthews, a spokesperson for United Healthcare's Medicaid plan, responding to the report said, "We have some serious questions about some of the material in the committee's letter, and we would strongly disagree with the conclusions" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/5).

In an Oct. 18 response to the report, Sommer wrote, "We have reviewed the Oct. 2 letter and we concur with the Majority staff's finding." Subcommittee Chair Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in a statement issued on Wednesday said UnitedHealth's concurrence with the report "proves what the subcommittee has been saying all along. Medicaid-eligible children in Maryland do not receive the dental care to which the law entitles them to and for which taxpayers pay." He added that the panel would continue investigating dental care access for Medicaid-eligible children.

UnitedHealth spokesperson Peter Ashkenaz said the company agrees with Kucinich's "focus on addressing dental care issues for Medicaid beneficiaries across the country. We are working closely with the Committee and all stakeholders to improve dental care for Medicaid beneficiaries and continue to implement innovative programs that will get children into dentists' chairs," some of which were outlined in the letter (CQ HealthBeat, 10/25).