BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) — Dr. Beth Kampschnieder has been a dentist at Kennedy Dental in Bellevue for years, and over those years, she said she's noticed patients struggle with insurance.
"It makes me feel really frustrated. Ideally, I want to spend my day making sure my patients can achieve their oral health goals," she said.
Kampschnieder said insurance denials have been more common over the last six months. She said she's seen patients not show up to appointments altogether due to cost.
"Ideally, we would want patients to be able to access that care to make it affordable," she said.
Nebraska Dental Association member Scott Morrison said that he's hoping for more transparency with dental insurance companies. If this bill passes, he hopes it would require insurance companies to meet an 85% minimum spending on patient care. If that 85% is not met, patients would get a refund.
Morrison said he just wants to put patients first.
"More than a dozen states are pursuing similar reforms. Massachusetts and Rhode Island have already passed them, " said Morrison.
KMTV connected with Sen. Stan Clouse over the phone, who introduced the bill. He told us it's worth having a discussion. He said he wants to see if there's a way Nebraska can improve the insurance process and help those paying for dental insurance.
Kampschnieder hopes this bill will keep patients coming in for oral care without having to worry about insurance.
"I want to be doing ultimately more dentistry on patients using more of their dental benefits," she said.
The bill will be heard in the banking committee on March 10.
