My pal Dave, age 71, lives on Social Security disability payments and has a problem even with his food budget by the middle of the month.
Last week, I made Dave an Italian tuna fish sandwich with pickled peppers on a fresh hard roll I bought at a nearby bakery in Knightsville.
About two hours later, Dave called me to say he broke a front tooth on the sandwich (through no fault of the bakery).
This was clearly a dental emergency, but Dave told me from his past experience that neither Medicare nor Medicaid suffices to pay for emergency dental care.
Does it make sense to separate dental care from general health care?
How many senior citizens are neglected in these dental-care emergencies?
Ron Ruggieri
Cranston