Latest news with #DDHC
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas has a dentist shortage. Joining a compact with other states would help
State lawmakers are addressing a number of challenges facing Texans and the state economy, including many that don't get the media coverage they deserve, such as the worsening dental care crisis. Simply put, Texas does not have enough dentists and hygienists to meet current needs, let alone rising demand driven by population growth. Fortunately, the Legislature is considering a bipartisan solution that could bring swift relief: joining the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact (DDHC). Two companion bills filed in the Texas Legislature — Senate Bill 1109 and HB 1803 — would make Texas a member of this compact, enabling licensed dental professionals from other member states to practice in Texas without burdensome delays or redundant licensing hurdles. On March 31, the House Public Health Committee held a hearing on HB 1803, allowing Texans to hear firsthand about the compact's benefits. Across the country, this commonsense reform is gaining momentum. States from Arkansas to Virginia have already joined the DDHC, reflecting a bipartisan consensus that mobility and access matter. Texas nearly did the same last session: A bill for Texas to join the DDHC failed by one vote in the House, and didn't reach a vote in the Senate. The case for compact membership is strong. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, less than 29% of Texas' oral health needs are currently being met. More than 2 million Texans live in one of the state's 261 designated dental shortage areas, where delays in care can result in long-term health consequences. Enabling licensed professionals from other states to quickly enter the Texas workforce would increase the supply of care, particularly in underserved communities. This could lower patient costs, improve outcomes and ease the strain on current providers. It would also benefit job-seekers — particularly experienced hygienists and dentists — who want to relocate to Texas without having to navigate bureaucratic obstacles. The Texas economy continues to roar thanks to the state's pro-growth policies, no income tax and commitment to free enterprise. But even the strongest economies face constraints. Population growth outpacing service expansion can quickly create friction — especially in health care. If those constraints aren't addressed through smart reforms, the consequences will multiply: longer wait times, higher costs and missed opportunities to deliver essential care. This is where the DDHC fits. It represents a targeted response to a real problem, offering near-term gains in provider availability while maintaining professional standards. But the broader conversation should not stop there. Should Texas lawmakers enact HB 1803, it would mark a decisive step in the right direction. Still, the ultimate goal should be to remove government-imposed barriers to entry into dental care altogether. Whether trained here or elsewhere, qualified providers should be free to serve Texans without unnecessary red tape. This aligns with a broader principle: that markets, when left to function, produce abundance, not scarcity. Milton Friedman famously argued that many licensing regimes are less about protecting the public than about protecting existing providers. Research confirms this: Occupational licensing inflates wages, restricts supply and increases costs without consistently improving service quality. In dental care, this means fewer options and higher prices for families who can least afford it. The DDHC offers a meaningful reform. It doesn't fix everything but brings us closer to a system where competition, not regulation, drives outcomes. By considering this policy, Texas lawmakers can reaffirm their commitment to healthcare access, workforce mobility and economic freedom. In the end, it's not just about dentists. It's about restoring the basic right to work — and to receive care — without the government getting in the way. Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization based in Washington, D.C. Vance Ginn, who lives in Round Rock, is a staff economist at Americans for Tax Reform and previously served as chief economist in the first Trump White House's Office of Management and Budget. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Less red tape, more smiles: Texas should join dental compact | Opinion
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Texas Lawmakers Consider Bill To Boost Supply Of Dental Care Providers
Texas House Representatives 2025 is poised to be a very consequential year for Texas public policy. Several major reforms favored by Governor Greg Abbott (R) that did not pass in prior sessions appear destined to reach his desk this session, including bills making education savings accounts available to all families, further reining in property taxes, and tightly restricting taxpayer-funded lobbying. The new Speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), and the leader of the Texas Senate, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R), along with the Governor, have details to work out on all these issues. Still, the three seem to be working in the same policy direction. Another, less covered matter on which Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R), and Speaker Burrows agree is occupational licensing reform. In particular, there is agreement among legislative leadership in both chambers that occupational licensing requirements should be reformed in a way that will make them a less costly and burdensome impediment to working in Texas. In particular, legislative leaders in Texas are interested in reforms that will make it easier for licensed professionals whose services are in demand to get to work more easily and quickly in Texas, one of the nation's fastest growing states. In fact, a bill that would help rectify the shortage of dental care providers in Texas will be considered by members of the Texas House Public Health Committee during a hearing on Monday, March 31. That legislation, House Bill 1803, would make Texas the newest member of the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact (DDHC). Enactment of HB 1803 would increase the supply of oral health care providers able to treat Texans by allowing dentists and dental hygienists who are licensed in other DDHC member states to offer their services in Texas, which is currently underserved when it comes to the supply of oral health care. The Kaiser Family Health Foundation reports that less than 29% of Texas's oral health care needs are met by the existing in-state supply of dental care providers. Kaiser has identified 261 certified dental health shortage areas across the state that are home to more than two million Texans. Aside from the documented need to increase the supply of oral health care providers who are available to treat Texans, there is another reason why HB 1803 and its companion in the Texas Senate, SB 1109, are likely to gain traction. Among the top policy priorities this year for Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Speaker Burrows, occupational licensing reform of the sort found in HB 1803/SB 1109 is most likely to garner bipartisan support. In fact, the Texas House approved legislation to join the DDHC last session in 2023 with near unanimous support (only one dissenting vote). Beyond the wide, bipartisan vote by which the Texas House has already voted to join the DDHC, the politically diverse roster of DDHC member states — which are blue, red, and purple — underscores the compact's broad appeal. Aside from Arkansas, current DDHC members include Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Washington. With legislation for additional states to join the DDHC now pending in, aside from Texas and Arizona, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, the list is poised to grow in 2025. Though the DDHC is one of the newer interstate compacts for licensed professions, it is one of the fastest growing. Arkansas became the most recent state to join the DDHC with legislation enacted this month by Governor Sarah Sanders and state legislators in Little Rock. Legislation to join the DDHC is now under consideration in Arizona. Whether Texas or Arizona is the next state to join the DDHC, many other states are expected to follow suit in the coming months and years.
