Dr. Astha Singhal Presents at Academy Health Annual Meeting

Dr. Astha Singhal presented her study, “Impact of Medicaid Expansion and Adult Dental Coverage on Access to Dental Care” at the annual Academy Health meeting, which took place from June 26-28, 2016 in Boston.

The annual Academy Health meeting, which bills itself as the “premier forum for health services research,” brings together a wide variety of stakeholders leading the charge to transform delivery systems and health care.

Dr. Singhal presented her study during the poster presentation with the theme, “Coverage Access and Medicaid.”

Dr. Singhal’s study examined the impact of Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and varying levels of dental benefits for Medicaid-enrolled adults on access to dental care among low-income non-elderly adults.

In the study, Dr. Singhal used Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from the year 2010 and 2014 to classify states based on whether they expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and whether they provided more than emergency-only dental benefits for adult enrollees. The analyses was restricted to adults aged 18-64 years and those with annual household income less than $15,000.

The study found that access to dental care remains a substantial problem among low-income Americans. While dental coverage is necessary to improve access, it is by itself, not sufficient. The results highlight capacity constraints on the supply side, especially in the states’ dental safety net system.