Page 30 - Bulletin Vol 28 No 1 - Jan. - April 2023 FINAL

ADA Lobby Day - My Perspective
Member Article |

By Dr. Robert Peskin
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From March 5 through 7 , the American Dental Association in conjunction with the American Student
Dental Association sponsored its annual Dentist and Student Lobby Day in our nation’s capital.
Interestingly, over half of congress is NEW since the last full in-person Lobby Day held in 2019, including

the entire delegation representing Long Island.

One of the enhancements that has made Lobby Day so much more
successful over the past decade, has been the collaboration of
practicing dentists and dental students working side-by-side in
appealing to their members of Congress. In fact, it is glaringly
apparent that many of our representatives in Congress are far more
receptive to the appeal of dental students, many of whom are facing

accrued pre-doctoral and dental school debt in excess of half a
million dollars. Unquestionably, the participation of students
provides a direct conduit for our representatives to interact with the
Drs. Brendon Dowd (ADA Trustee), Robert Peskin, NCDS, and younger generation.
Raymond Miller, 8th District Dental Society in Washington DC
This year there were three issues that were the focus of our visitations:

• To support dental students and new dentists, our first issue was discussing student loan reform,
including the Resident Education and Deferred Interest (REDI) Act. This legislation would allow

medical and dental residents to automatically defer their federal student loan payments until after
their medical or dental residency is completed. By the time of our hill visits, this bill had already
gained bipartisan and bicameral (both House and Senate) support.

• The second issue on our agenda was dental insurance reform. Specifically, the dentists and students
were lobbying for legislation that would help strike a blow to ERISA, including the Dental and Opto-

metric Care Access (DOC Access) Act. This legislation would prohibit dental and vision plans from
setting the fees network doctors may charge for services not covered by the insurers. Currently 45
states have similar laws on the books addressing state-administered insurance plans (excluding New
York). However, those federally-administered insurance plans (such as ERISA) are exempt from those
laws. This bill also had bipartisan and bicameral support.

• Our final “ask” was to seek support for low-income patients on Medicaid. The Medicaid Dental

Benefit Act of 2023, introduced by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and
Representative Nanette Barragán (D-CA), would mandate a comprehensive Medicaid adult dental
benefit in all states. Many adults who rely on Medicaid benefits find that there is little, if any,
coverage for dental care due to a patchwork of dental benefits by state Medicaid programs. Without a
federal requirement, and given the competing priorities for state budgets, the optional adult dental
benefit is often not provided by states, or is limited. Currently, only about half of the states provide

30| Nassau County Dental Society ⬧ www.nassaudental.org