(Radio Iowa) – Leaders of the State Dental Association want Iowa lawmakers to address a critical shortage of dentists who accept Medicaid patients. Carroll dentist Chris Bogue, is the president of the organization.  “The reimbursement rate is one, and then the secondary is we don’t have the staff to help us see a lot of these patients,” he says. “We kind of have a double whammy and both of those issues are kind of our legislative priorities this year.” Dr. Bogue says Medicaid reimbursement rates have stayed stagnant for almost 20 years.

“It is hard and that’s the struggle. As dentists, we wanna do everything we can to help when we actually see the patients. We’re probably getting paid 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. And that doesn’t even cover overhead for a lot of the cases,” Bogue says. Tracy Gotto of the Buena Vista County Health Department says none of the five dentists in Storm Lake accepts Medicaid patients, and the local health center is the only option.

“Dentists are just saying that they can’t do it based on the reimbursement, and I think we’re just having this crisis all over. We were sending kids to Fort Dodge at one point, and now Fort Dodge is saying they can’t take any more kids either,” Gotto says. Dr. Bogue also wants the legislature to address a severe shortage of dental hygienists and assistants.

The need for Medicaid providers is so great that a free “Mission of Mercy” clinic in Sioux City in October treated one thousand people – but was forced to turn down another thousand who officials say exhausted all other options for care.