American Dental Association - Grab the money- QUICK!

This is a letter recently sent to my brother, Luke, who works as a dentist in Eugene, Oregon.
His response follows:

Dear ODA Member,

Proposed budget cuts threaten to eliminate the state's already limited Oregon Health Plan dental coverage for low-income adults. It is critical to have as many dentists as possible explaining the need for keeping adult dental benefits in the Standard OHP package to members of the Oregon Legislature Joint Ways and Means Committee. Beginning tomorrow the Joint Ways and Means Committee will be traveling to your city. The first stop is in Bend tonight and then Ashland on Thursday! The third meeting is Friday May 1st in Eugene at 1:00pm.

This is an opportunity for you to share the importance of oral health and explain why it is critical to maintain oral health coverage in the state budget. Dentistry's record of disease prevention, early prevention and cost control show the value of good oral health care. Good oral health is essential to overall health!

Please gather your peers and plan to attend the Ways and Means Committee tomorrow tonight at Southern Oregon University. More information on the meeting can be found below. If you have any questions or would like assistance with talking points please contact me at bhamilton@oregondental.org or 503.218.2010.

If you do attend please contact me with feedback from the meeting.

Thank you, Brett

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From: luke gambee
Date: Sun, May 3, 2009 at 9:28 PM Subject:
RE: Protect OHP Adult Dental
To: bhamilton@oregondental.org

While I believe it is critical to maintain oral health coverage, I believe that coverage is the responsibility alone of the individual. I do not believe this should be a federal or state responsibility, but rather the stewardship belongs to the individuals, families and local communities in that order.

While I can understand the desire to have an umbrella for children in cases of parental neglect or ignorance, the long term results of adult medical and dental benefits is loss of responsibility by the patient to own up to his own stewardship and instead passes that on to the tax-payer, whose burden is already at servitude levels.

Again, it is a form of legalized plunder to shift the responsibility for dental health from the individual to the taxpayer by way of popular vote and I will always object to legislative intervention in this matter

Sincerely, Luke Gambee DMD