INDIANA – A newly released report from the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute highlights the many challenges Hoosiers face in accessing needed oral health care amid Indiana’s current affordability crisis. This mixed-methods report highlights the stories of everyday Hoosiers, and the findings reinforce that costs and lack of access to providers present significant barriers to obtaining dental care, leading many to forgo necessary treatment for themselves and their children.
“A core and concerning finding in the report is that Hoosiers will go without oral health care they need because of the financial implications for their households,” shared Dr. Lauren Murfree, Policy Analyst at the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute. “Hoosiers we interviewed know what they need to care for their oral health, but faced financial and logistical barriers to accessing care, ultimately resulting in them going without treatment and, for some, living in daily physical pain to prevent the financial pain.”
Zia Saylor, Researcher at the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute, also highlighted that the barriers Hoosiers faced-while often financial- were also linked with other difficulties. “Transportation, access to childcare and nutritious food, and other systemic barriers prevented many Hoosiers we interviewed from accessing the care they needed. While increasing the affordability of oral healthcare is an important place to start, this report finds that there are a range of policy areas requiring improvement for Hoosiers to access the oral health they need.”
Findings from the report present a breadth of concerns that lawmakers have yet to address for the oral health of everyday Hoosiers. Central to this is the question: How will Hoosiers access dental and oral health care when so many already are unable to afford it?
This report can be read online via the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute website and was made possible through a partnership with CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
