SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mother-of-three Erica Mendoza said she joined a group delivering more than 6,000 petitions urging the governor to protect Medi-Cal dental funding for low-income children because that funding has made such a big impact on her kids.

What You Need To Know

$144 million in supplemental Medi-Cal dental payments for children were left out of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, part of $362 million in overall dental funding reductions

The funding boosted reimbursement rates — which are still below regular insurance rates — and without it, orthodontist George Mayweather warns untreated tooth pain in children could lead to broader health issues and higher costs for the state

Dental pain among kids is also a leading cause of absenteeism in the state

Cuts to Medi-Cal, the state’s finance director Joe Stephenshaw said, have been due to trying to balance spending

“All three of them, they all went to the dental office [because of Medi-Cal dental coverage],” Mendoza said. “I did have an incident also with my oldest son. He was in the hospital for a whole week because of a tooth infection. And it went through his body. So Medi-Cal help us a lot.”

$144 million in supplemental Medi-Cal dental payments for children were left out of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, part of $362 million in overall dental funding reductions.

The funding boosted reimbursement rates — which are still below regular insurance rates — and without it, orthodontist George Mayweather warns untreated tooth pain in children could lead to broader health issues and higher costs for the state.

“Eventually they wind up in the ER, which costs more than regular dental care,” Mayweather said. “In the long run, the state of California will pay a lot more in hospital bills.”

Dental pain among kids is also a leading cause of absenteeism in the state.

“In 2022, more than 351,000 children missed at least one day of school because of dental problems,” said Estella Kessler, Selma Unified School District Trustee. “Most missed more than one day. That added up to nearly 900,000 lost school days in a single year. These numbers are coming from the California Department of Public Health.”

The state has proposed a $350 billion budget that is facing a deficit of between $2.9 and $18 billion.

Cuts to Medi-Cal, the state’s finance director Joe Stephenshaw said, have been due to attempts at balancing spending.

“Some of our programs, particularly in the Health and Human Services area, costs over time have been increasing,” Stephenshaw said. “Over what we would think are reasonable revenue growth estimates.”

That means costs have increased significantly across Medi-Cal, and state revenues aren’t keeping pace. Stephenshaw said things could change with Medi-Cal funding by the final budget.

“As we monitor all significant general fund spending, I think we’ll continue to assess the program as a whole and have those conversations with the legislature and stakeholders,” Stephenshaw said.

Mendoza said she hopes lawmakers take careful consideration because when you don’t make much, dental costs can be scary, as she can attest to from one of her son’s visits.

“We actually received a bill just for the lab work,” Mendoza said. “It was going to be like $2,000.”