Global and Environmental Health
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Global and Environmental Health
Dental inequality is one of the leading public health issues in the United States. The article “How Dental Inequality Hurts Americans” published in the New York Times by Austin Frakt on February 19, 2018, explains how the lack of Medicaid coverage for dental care is hurting Americans. As reported by Frakt (2018), Medicaid programs do not offer dental care coverage in several states across America. Only 17 states offer comprehensive dental benefits for their citizens. Some middle- and high-income earners have resorted to obtaining dental care coverage from private insurers through their employers. However, it is quite shocking to learn that low-income earners who qualify for Medicaid coverage but cannot get it are twice more likely to develop dental problems and remain untreated when compared with those people who can obtain private coverage (Frakt, 2018). Dental inequality in the United States is associated with negative health outcomes, stigmatization in social settings, negative economic impacts, and missed jobs.
Although numerous epidemiological concepts are evident in the article, the two main ones are social determinants of health and social justice theory. Social justice theory assumes that there should be equal distribution of privileges and opportunities to everyone. This assumption is violated in America. For example, some states offer comprehensive dental coverage for their citizens while others do not (Frakt, 2018). Healthcare access defined in terms of cost and insurance is a key social determinant of health in the article (Healthy People 2030, 2022). For example, Frakt (2018) indicates that Kentucky which offers limited Medicaid coverage for dental care recorded a triple rise in emergency department visits for oral health issues in 2014. The WHO Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressed in the article is SDG 3: Good health and Well-being (World Health Organization, 2022). Dental inequality in the United States should be addressed through Medicaid expansion to improve dental and oral health for citizens.
References
Frakt, A. (2018, February 19). How dental inequality hurts Americans. The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/upshot/how-dental-inequality-hurts-americans.html
Healthy People 2030. (2022). Health Care Access and Quality. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/health-care-access-and-quality
World Health Organization. (2022). Monitoring health for the SDGs. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/world-health-statistics#tab=tab_1