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December 23, 2003Dental clinics for Medicaid patients open, some cut hoursPatient load is down after cuts made to serviceByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Rumors of Dental Clinics North closing because of Medicaid cuts are untrue, officials said Monday. All 10 clinics will remain open and continue to serve Medicaid patients for a fee, though four have cut hours due to declining patient loads, said Patti Ulrich, dental supervisor for the clinics. Clinics in Traverse City and West Branch now are open only four days a week now instead of five. In Cheboygan and East Jordan, clinics have dropped from five days to three days, Ulrich said. Medicaid cut dental service to adults for all services, except emergencies involving infection or pain, effective Oct. 1. It did not reduce children's benefits, she said. "It's really quite devastating for the adults," Ulrich said. Medicaid is a federal health insurance program for low-income adults and children. Adult Medicaid recipients are still eligible to receive dental care at the clinics for procedures not covered by the program. But they will be charged a fee to cover the cost of the procedure. Before the cuts, the 10 clinics served about 20,000 patients. Of those, 55 percent were adults, 45 percent children. Officials don't know yet how many patients have left the clinics because several are finishing multiple-appointment procedures begun before the cuts went into effect, Ulrich said. The cutbacks also have caused problems for clinic dental patients who need organ transplants, said Cate Passalacqua, a kidney dialysis caseworker for Renal Dialysis Services of Gaylord. A cavity can keep someone from getting on the transplant list. Even minor dental problems can cause complications with transplants. Medicaid will not pay for treatment unless someone has an infected tooth or a problem causing pain. No matter what the problem, it will pay only to pull the tooth, not to fill it, Passalacqua said. Patients can call 1-877-321-7070 to find out if they're eligible to receive a grant from the clinics to help pay for services or to schedule an appointment. For children's services, the clinics still accept several types of coverage, including Healthy Kids, Head Start and MI-Child. The other six clinics, which have not cut their hours, are in Alpena, Cadillac, Gaylord, Mancelona, Manistee and Petoskey.
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