New Jersey meets two of the eight policy benchmarks aimed at addressing children's dental health needs. Although the state surpassed the threshold for use of dental services by Medicaid-enrolled children, the state supplied information on payments by its managed care contractors (which cover 98 percent of children in the state) showing reimbursements that fall significantly below dentists' usual fees.
As for water fluoridation, data from 2008 show that the state is doing worse than in 2006—now offering optimally fluoridated water to only 14 percent of its residents on community systems, a decline from its previous mark of 23 percent.
1. Weighted average of fee-for-service and managed care payment rates.