Bernie’s New Plan: Add Dental Benefits to Medicare
Bernie Sanders is pushing to lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 and add dental, vision, and hearing coverage through the budget reconciliation plan in Congress. It would be a huge win for health justice.
Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to the media at the White House in Washington, DC, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While often seen as a health care afterthought, forgoing dental work can have serious long-term consequences: reduced ability to speak, reduced ability to eat healthy foods — not to mention reduced confidence in one’s appearance. Gum disease can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and more severe diabetes.
According to the AARP, about one in five Americans age sixty-five or older have untreated cavities, and two in three have gum disease; 50 percent of people over age fifty-five wear dentures, which require routine maintenance. Gum tissue naturally recedes as you age, exposing roots to decay, and a lifetime of crunching and grinding wears away tooth enamel.
But surely Medicare, the United States’ national health plan for those sixty-five and older, covers all of that, right?
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