# Medicare Advantage and its Impact on Oral Health Equity among Older Adults

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2024 · $231,750

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Despite the great need for oral healthcare access, many older adults rely on traditional fee -for-service (FFS)
Medicare, which does not provide routine dental benefits. The need for oral healthcare services is especially
critical for older adults who are racial/ethnic minorities and those who are economically-disadvantaged, as
these groups display significantly poorer oral health than their counterparts. Medicare Advantage (MA) health
plans are available to U.S. seniors as an alternative to FFS Medicare health plans. MA plans offer access to
more comprehensive dental benefits than traditional FFS Medicare, and individuals from underserved
backgrounds are enrolling in MA at higher rates than other demographics. Therefore, MA coverage could help
facilitate oral health equity among the Medicare-eligible older adult population. Our analyses in this timely,
exploratory study will help to determine if there is in fact equity in access to and utilization of oral health
services among all demographics of MA enrollees. We will conduct the following aims: Aim 1. Estimate
whether traditionally underserved groups, compared to their counterparts, are less likely to have
dental coverage in their Medicare Advantage (MA) plans; are less likely to use dental services if
covered; and are more likely to receive emergency dental care and receive dental care in a non-dental
setting if using covered dental services; Aim 2. Estimate disparities in MA dental coverage, MA
covered dental use conditional on MA dental coverage, and emergency dental care and type of dental
setting conditional on MA covered dental use after controlling for community-level factors, including
among others: county-level measures for the penetration of MA coverage among eligibles, the
concentration of MA dental coverage among MA enrollees by race/ethnicity and income, and the
market supply of dental providers. The study results will be directly relevant to current, national-level policy
decisions around how to improve oral health access to the Medicare population, particularly among
underserved groups.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10842276
- **Project number:** 5R21MD017601-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
- **Principal Investigator:** DARIEN JEROME Weatherspoon
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $231,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-16 → 2025-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10842276

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10842276, Medicare Advantage and its Impact on Oral Health Equity among Older Adults (5R21MD017601-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10842276. Licensed CC0.

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