Medicaid Cuts Push Dentists Out and Patients Pay the Price
Cut reimbursement, lose dentists. Who pays the price when Medicaid access disappears?
California’s Medi-Cal Dental program is facing a critical inflection point, and dentists warn that proposed reimbursement cuts could dramatically reduce access to care for vulnerable populations. A recent survey conducted by the California Dental Association (CDA) found that 49% of dentists currently participating in Medi-Cal would leave the program if the planned rate reductions take effect later this year.
The proposed cuts target reimbursement increases made possible by Proposition 56, a tobacco tax approved by voters in 2016. Those funds, implemented in 2017 and 2018, now account for 40% or more of Medi-Cal dental reimbursement and represent the first meaningful rate increase since the 1990s. Although the cuts were initially slated for 2025, they were delayed until July as part of the state’s 2025–26 budget agreement.
According to CDA’s survey of more than 1,500 dentists, the financial consequences would be severe. Among current Medi-Cal providers, 30% said they would reduce the number of Medi-Cal patients they see, while only 3% indicated they could maintain services unchanged. Many respondents said sustaining a Medi-Cal practice would become infeasible, increasing the risk of office closures and reduced care availability.
The stakes are high. More than half of California’s children and roughly one-third of adults rely on Medi-Cal for dental services. CDA analysis shows that routine procedures could be reimbursed at rates far below even today’s levels; for example, dropping an oral evaluation from $45 to $15, compared with $82 paid by commercial insurance.
History offers a cautionary tale. When adult dental benefits were eliminated in 2009, emergency department visits for preventable dental conditions surged. Research shows those visits declined once benefits were restored. Click here to read more.
