RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Alliance for Access to Dental Care, a trade and advocacy group committed to providing quality dental care, announces the ongoing support from national and regional organizations in its efforts to prevent the passage of House Bill 698 (H.B. 698) and Senate Bill 655 (S.B. 655). If passed, H.B. 698 and S.B. 655 will change the way dentists work with dental service organizations (DSOs), which help manage the increasingly complex business aspects of running a dental practice, such as accounting, human resources and purchasing.
“This legislation has the power to drastically alter the dental landscape in North Carolina with no positive benefits for patients or dentists,” said Doug Brown, CEO of Affordable Care, a dental service organization founded in Kinston in 1975 and a member of the Alliance. “It is unique to North Carolina, which already has the most restrictive laws in the nation governing the operation of dental practices. This bill needs to be stopped, because it will drive up costs and reduce access to care for more than 225,000 patients and put dentists at risk of closing their practices.”
Dr. Dan Taylor, an economist at Duke University added, “Each year, North Carolinians pay around $280 million more for dental care than they would if dental fees were the same as those in other states. The supply of dentists in N.C. is also lower than the national average, with N.C. ranking 47th out of 50 states in dentists per 10,000 population, and this is the case in spite of the fact that the average salary of N.C. dentists is relatively high. This is the opposite of what I would expect.”
Due to the potential negative impact of this bill, several highly recognized organizations have officially declared their opposition to the legislation. Americans for Tax Reform, the John Locke Foundation, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, National Association of Dental Plans, Americans for Prosperity and the National Taxpayers Union are just a few of the organizations that have all spoken out against this legislation, according to the Alliance for Access to Dental Care.
About the Alliance for Access to Dental Care
The Alliance is a trade and advocacy group that is working hard for dentists and patients across North Carolina. Its mission is to bring light to the issue and work to stop this legislation. For more information, please visit https://www.highercostlesschoice.com/.
