NEWS AND INFORMATION
NHLA Takes Action to Enforce Court- Ordered Agreement to Provide Dental Care to Low-Income and Disabled Children
Children who rely on Medicaid for their dental care returned to federal district court last week to enforce a court-ordered settlement agreement in the case of Hawkins v. Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services. The settlement agreement, known as a “consent decree,” was entered in 2004 to reform the New Hampshire Medicaid dental program for children and youth under age 21. New Hampshire Legal Assistance (“NHLA”) represents the children. “It’s been three years since the Court ordered the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) to improve dental services for children on Medicaid,” said Kay E. Drought, NHLA Litigation Director who, with NHLA Staff Attorney Ruth Heintz, represents the child Plaintiffs. “Yet DHHS reports show that less than half of the children enrolled in Medicaid receive even one dental examination per year through that program.” (Children need dental examinations every six months to maintain their health.) Drought also says that an even smaller number of children receive necessary preventive services which help children avoid cavities altogether, such as dental sealants and fluoride treatments. The children also allege that DHHS is not keeping track of which dentists actually have openings for new Medicaid patients. As a result, DHHS continues to offer pointless referrals to families seeking dental care for their children. The approximately 60,000 New Hampshire children enrolled in Medicaid are all protected by the Hawkins Consent Decree. The children returned to court only after their attorneys made extensive attempts to reach an out-of-court resolution of these issues. “Because DHHS administers the Medicaid program for children so that most children fail to receive the dental care they need, our clients had no choice but to return to court,” says Drought. “We hope that the children’s motion to enforce the Hawkins Consent Decree will cause the Department, and other state decisionmakers, to make a new commitment to comply with federal Medicaid law and the Decree.” NHLA is a statewide non-profit law firm which provides civil legal services to low-income and elderly residents of New Hampshire.
