LDA - Louisiana Dental Association

LDA
council on government affairs
Dr. Maurice B. “Marty” Garrett
Chair, Council on Government Affairs
The 2012 Legislative Session began Monday,
March 12, and is shaping up to be another tough
fiscal struggle to provide funding for the needs of
our state’s citizens. Your LDA Board and Council on
Government Affairs (CGA) has once again placed
Medicaid funding as our top priority to protect in
the upcoming session. As you are aware, Dr. Don
Donaldson and his Medicaid task Force have made
great strides in the last decade to improve Medicaid
reimbursement and increase dentist participation
in the program. It is crucial that this progress be
protected by the lobbying efforts of your LDA.
The LDA is also supporting other improvements
in access to oral health care by supporting programs
like Donated Dental Services and community water
fluoridation.
The LDA will continue its pledge to support the
LSU School of Dentistry by our efforts to avoid further
budget cuts to the school. The LDA is working closely
with Dean Henry Gremillion and LSUHSC Director
of External Relations Chris Vidrine to do whatever
is necessary/needed to help the school and voice
our support to the legislators. While the Governor’s
executive budget does not contain cuts to Higher
Education in total, it is not clear that the funding will
be distributed in a manner that protects the dental
school from further cuts.
An example of an effective bill your LDA is
sponsoring is a dental benefit consultant bill which
will improve current legislation in several areas.
The bill will ensure that dental benefit consultants
who deny claims to our state’s dentists are at least
qualified and accountable. The bill would require
the dentist denying a claim to be licensed in the
U.S. In addition, having the contact information for
the dentist denying a claim will facilitate improved
communication between the treating dentist and the
consultant making the adverse determination.
As many of you are aware, the joint task force of
It is Session Time! Watch for Emails and Updates
from the LDA
LDA members and Louisiana State Board of Dentistry
board members after much debate have agreed to
January 2013 date for AED’s to be required in all
dental offices. The LDA will promote a bill this session
to work on a tax credit/rebate for health professionals
who purchase AED’s. This is another fine example of
your LDA providing member benefits.
During the legislative session, things move
quickly, so make sure to watch the LDA website at
www.ladental.org and emails from the LDA that ask
that you contact your legislator. We make things as
easy as possible for you by writing the letter/email
for you!
Your CGA strongly encourages you to stay abreast
of legislative issues and voice your concerns to your
representatives. Along with both LADPAC and DAP-
PAC, we hosted Dentists’ Day at the Legislature on
March 28, 2012. This gave dentists the opportunity to
meet with representatives of the administration on key
areas of policy. After these briefings, we visited with
individual legislators to discuss specific legislation and
then hosted a reception at the Pentagon Barracks. If
you weren’t able to attend this year, please consider
joining us in the future at this grassroots event to
promote good oral health for our citizens.
Watch for emails
and updates from
the LDA and
visit our website at
www.ladental.org
8 LDA Journal