ArticleJAMA health forum2025
Benefit Design and Access to Dental Care Among Seniors With Medicare Advantage Dental Benefits.
Article in JAMA health forum, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prior Authorization Requirements in Medicare Advantage and County Social Vulnerability.The American journal of managed care · 2026Article
- Early association of expanded Medicare dental benefits to dentist billing in Medicare.Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) · 2026Article
- Health System Integration and Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage.Health services research · 2026Article
- Interdisciplinary Strategies for Improving Oral Health in Older Adults: A Comprehensive Review.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Medicare Advantage Dental Benefits: Comprehensive Coverage Available In Fewer Than Half Of US Counties.Health affairs (Project Hope) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: Although Medicare Advantage plans frequently offer dental benefits, enrollees report lower rates of dental care use and higher rates of unmet dental need compared with individuals with employer-sponsored benefits. It is unknown which attributes of Medicare Advantage dental plans are associated with enhanced dental care access. Objective: To determine attributes of Medicare Advantage dental plans associated with higher rates of dental care use and lower rates of unmet dental need. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study included respondents from the 2019 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey whose Medicare Advantage plan identifiers were linked to 2019 Medicare Advantage dental plan data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Respondents enrolled in a Medicare Advantage dental plan for all 12 months in 2019. Data analysis was performed between May and August 2024. Exposures: Medicare Advantage plans offering dental benefits. Main Outcomes and Measures: Main outcomes were unmet dental need in the past year, unmet dental need due to cost in the past year, and whether the respondent visited a dentist in the past year. Outcomes were measured in a survey of individuals ages 65 years and older. Results: In a sample including up to 1789 enrollees (mean [SD] age, 74.7 [7.4] years; 58.4% female; and 13.2% lived in a rural county), enrollees in Medicare Advantage HMO plans were 7.0 percentage points (95% CI, 3.2 to 10.9 percentage points) more likely to report unmet dental need and 4.4 percentage points (95% CI, 0.9 to 7.8 percentage points) more likely to report an unmet dental need due to cost. Prior authorization was associated with an increase of 4.5 percentage points (95% CI, 0.3 to 8.7 percentage points) in unmet dental need. Relative to plans that imposed no out-of-pocket costs on comprehensive services, plans that covered only preventive services were associated with an increase of 12.1 percentage points (95% CI, 3.2 to 21.0 percentage points) in unmet dental need and an increase of 7.8 percentage points (95% CI, 0.6 to 15.0 percentage points) in unmet dental need due to cost. Relative to plans with up to a $500 annual plan maximum, benefits with no annual plan maximum were associated with a decrease of -12.4 percentage points (95% CI, -20.9 to -3.8 percentage points) in unmet dental need. Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that restrictive characteristics of Medicare Advantage dental plans are associated with greater unmet dental need and financial barriers to care. Results of this study suggest that increasing annual plan maximums or eliminating them entirely from benefit plans could decrease unmet dental need and increase dental care utilization.
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