New Hampshire meets five of the eight policy benchmarks aimed at addressing children's dental health needs. Although the state's grade was unchanged from 2010, Medicaid-enrolled children's use of dental services has increased since 2007. New Hampshire now provides dental care to over half of its Medicaid-enrolled children. Although Medicaid payment rates slipped as a percentage of dentists' usual fees, these rates still exceed the national benchmark.
In 2010, New Hampshire passed a law authorizing its Medicaid program to reimburse medical providers for preventive dental services, but the state had not yet begun paying claims when Pew compiled this report.1 The Pew Children's Dental Campaign is supporting an effort to improve access to care by helping the state develop a new kind of dental provider.
1. Pew and MSDA survey of state Medicaid programs. See also New Hampshire House Bill 1537, http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2010/HB1537.html (accessed March 4, 2011).