Fighting for dental insurance reform

The Paris News

Published July 30, 2004

Barbara Whitmire is trying to change the way dental insurance companies operate.The Paris resident has collected more than 300 signatures that she said she will eventually submit to State Rep. Mark Homer in an attempt “to get insurance companies to combine health insurance and dental insurance into one base price,” she said in her petition.Whitmire said she has most recently been left with a bill of nearly $4,000 for reconstructive surgeries to her mouth and nasal passages due to a bone infection she suffered in 1996. Her insurance only paid for $145 of the surgery, she said. Dental insurance companies won’t pay for most serious operations, according to Whitmire. The coverage mostly covers teeth cleaning and fillings, she said.“It’s not like it used to be. It’s getting worse and worse. They pay less and less,” she said of insurance companies.Whitmire also needs dental implants. Due to loss of her palate, dentures are impossible to wear, however, she said, no insurance company will cover the cost of implants.“It seems like the working class people are being punished because they work,” Whitmire said of how difficult she has found it to get payment from dental insurance companies.She said she hopes lawmakers will force insurance companies to combine both medical and dental insurance under one premium so no person will have to fight with insurance companies like she has.Several people have called her since hearing about her petition to tell her how they have also fought with insurance companies.“I’m doing this petition because I want to help the working people get better benefits. I just want people to know it’s something to help them not something to hurt them,” she said of the petition.Whitmire said she didn’t know how many more signatures she would collect before sending in the petition, but she encouraged people to contact her if they have had trouble getting insurance to pay for dental costs.