Low-income New Yorkers win the right to a root canal

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For millions of low-income New Yorkers, access to routine dental care has long hinged on whether or not they still have eight crucial teeth. State Department of Health rules for Medicaid recipients say a mouth with just four pairs of matching back teeth is “adequate for functional purposes” and therefore not eligible for root canals and crowns. But under a new legal settlement reached on Monday, an estimated 5 million people will get expanded dental coverage. The Legal Aid Society brought the class action suit in 2018. Attorney Belkys Garcia says before this lawsuit, Medicaid “was really just a tooth-pulling program.”