Deamonte driver death

Following six weeks in the hospital and two operations, Deamonte died. The system was disjointed. The sad reality is that all of this could have been prevented.

What is even more unnerving is that more than ten years later, the system in Washington, DC has seen little improvement in removing the barriers to accessing dental services for children with special health care needs.

A team within the HJA has dedicated itself to oral health needs for children with special health care needs in the DC area. At the end of March, with generous support from the George E. For every child without health insurance, there are 2. Uninsured children are 2.

In , the health reform bill known as the Affordable Care Act required that all insurance plans to be offered through new health insurance exchanges starting in include oral care for children, and prohibited these insurers from charging out of pocket expenses for preventive pediatric oral health services. These two new requirements alone will give millions of children financial access to dental health services, many for the first time.

Other provisions in the Affordable Care Act will help train more dental health providers. These victories are all key steps in the right direction, and part of the solution still needed in order to make sure all children -- poor and wealthy, rural, suburban, and urban -- receive the dental health care they need to survive and thrive.

He was taken to the hospital but after six weeks and two brain surgeries, Deamonte Driver died. It was only after the national spotlight that his death created, that his mother was able to obtain extractions for his brother Deshawn who also had ten seriously decayed teeth. This sad reality is that his tragic death could have been prevented. Deamonte Driver's story underscores the growing need in this wealthy country to provide adequate dental care to our nation's children.

Deamonte and his younger brother DaShawn went to live with his grandparents in a mobile home. Lorrie Norris, a lawyer for Public Justice Center, a Baltimore nonprofit that was surveying the homeless, contacted the Drivers during the summer of Alyce called Norris later that summer when she needed help finding DaShawn treatment for infected teeth.

The ordeal of finding dentists and actually getting treatment was a nightmare. The Medicaid system has gotten increasing complex, with private companies contracting with the government to offer managed care plans, with subcontractors that administer dental or health benefits, and with defined networks of dentists and other health care providers that accept your particular insurance plan.

Maryland introduced the managed care system in Once it began, some health departments stopped providing dental services to Medicaid children. In , Maryland gave less dental care to these children than any other state in the nation. His health plan was United Healthcare, but dental benefits were administered through Dental Benefits Providers, another company.

The representative gave Norris a list of participating dentists. The first 26 dentists on the list who were called no longer participated with the dental plan.