Is it legal for dentists to discriminate based on age of Medicaid recipients?

Most states (Medicaid is managed by the individual state under federal guidelines) have the Medicaid dental program as a basic preventive care program which by it's rules are limited to children. Usually if the kid is under your states' CHIP program (low income), it covers dental but the dental is like for fluoride treatments or sealant painting of the teeth to prevent tooth decay. Often this is done in portable huge trailers with happy smiles or teeth on them and the work done by dental assistants or hygienists or students under the "supervision" of a DDS or DMD and it tied into the state dental school. The whole unit is desgined for kids and often goes from one school or another within a region. Sometimes a DDS will have an office that participates. Whatever the case, they usually don't do extractions or other invasive procedures and it's all about basic simple care

Dental for the elderly is pretty much nonexistent except for private pay. We did thousands of $$$ of my mom's spend-down on dental for her because of this. Really if you can even find a dentist who will work on the elderly, it is worth it. They are few and far between. You can ask their MD if they will prescribe one of the Colgate prescription products that the NH can use. Like Colgate Periogard. But it has to be an RX with MD orders in their chart for it to be done. Good luck.

I forgot to say that if you have an advantage plan for Medicare and have the dental plan that you pay extra for then dental is covered. Sorry.

It is true that they do not accept patients for medicare or medicaid for routine dental procedures. If one was in an accident and teeth were broken, something to that effect, medicaid or an advantage plan will probably cover part of it. If not, it is NOT covered. It is for medical care only! Medicaid is a state run insurance with sometimes help from the federal gov't. In Az. I believe it is 18 for dental coverage then no more coverage after 18. My mom has Medicaid and rotten teeth. Medicare will not cover a simple extraction, either. She's 75. Sorry about your delemma.