Iowa’s Dental Desert Means Thousands of Patients Go Without Dental Care
More than 2,000 Iowans are on a waiting list at one dental clinic in Council Bluffs, Iowa, with low Medicaid reimbursement and lack of providers to blame.
In the Western Iowa town of Council Bluffs, 1,600 adults and 400 children are on a waiting list to receive dental care at a single dental clinic, All Care Health Center. The demand for dental care in this part of Iowa has greatly exceeded the supply with many citing low Medicaid reimbursement rates and few dental providers as the reasons behind the crisis.
Few dentists in the area accept adult patients covered by Medicaid due to egregiously low reimbursement rates. This has resulted in almost no access to care for those covered by the public health insurance program.
All Care Health Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable, comprehensive, high-quality healthcare to the Council Bluffs community, broke ground on a $5.7 million dental center on November 9. The 10,000-square-foot facility will have 21 dental operatories and can serve 8,000 patients annually. The center hopes to be open by fall 2027. Click here to read more.
