State insurance holders squeezed from Island dental care

Getting dental care on the Island has remained a challenge for many residents, but a recent insurance policy change with an off-Island office is making it even harder.

With limited access to dental care that supports MassHealth and other public health insurance companies, many Islanders have been forced to travel off-Island to Direct Pay Dental Care in Falmouth. That’s the closest office to the ferry terminal that has historically accepted Island patients with MassHealth. 

But to Islanders’ frustrations, Direct Pay Dental Care now no longer accepts the state’s dental insurance. 

Vineyard Haven resident Mark Johnson, a longtime Islander, is among those who have been getting care in Falmouth.

“Now I must travel to Hyannis,” said Johnson. He said he’s frustrated that other Islanders, too, will have to pay to travel off-Island for a dentist, because there is no “appropriate alternative locally.”

According to Direct Pay Dental Care, back in April, MassHealth cut ties with its group. Now patients can no longer use their insurance, although forms of private health insurance are accepted. 

For Johnson, a patient with Direct Pay Dental Care for “decades,” this was especially upsetting. He said he had previously recommended the office to another couple of hundred Islanders over the years, talking with many who use MassHealth insurance.

Hoping to avoid traveling down to the Cape, Johnson said he’s been making calls across the Island to different dental clinics, to see whether or not MassHealth was accepted. He’s done this every couple of years, he said, and each time the response is the same: MassHealth is seemingly not accepted anywhere. 

But there could be some hope on the horizon for MassHealth insurance holders. 

For the past three years, Island Health Care has been working on developing a new dental clinic that would serve those using public health insurance, like MassHealth, as well as those without insurance. The clinic is expected to be open in Edgartown in the fall. 

“There aren’t a lot of dental resources for people who are uninsured or who have public health insurance,” said Cynthia Mitchell, CEO and founding director of Island Health Care. “So absolutely, we will be taking MassHealth.”

Island Health Care receives federal funding, Mitchell said, to serve “low-income, underserved, and uninsured residents in our area.” Aside from MassHealth, the clinic is expected to also take Health Safety Net insurance for residents who are low-income or not eligible for MassHealth insurance. 

In 2022, MVYouth, a donation organizer on the Island, and one of the donors collaborating with Island Health Care, donated a grant of $500,000 for the project. 

Lindsey Scott, executive director of MVYouth, said its grant focused on supporting the Island’s underserved youth population.

Even with external donations, Mitchell said, raising money and getting through the development process for the dental clinic has been expensive. 

“We had to raise more money than the original federal funding,” she said. “We got slightly over half a million from Health and Human Services.” The total budget, according to Mitchell, will end up being more than twice that amount. 

The project involves more than just the singular dental clinic building. Mitchell said Island Health Care purchased three commercial units in Edgartown, near the Santander Bank that sits on Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road. One of these will be used for the clinic, and the other two are being developed to expand Island Health Care’s primary care. 

“Because the need is so keen on the Island for dental services,” Mitchell said, “especially for the safety-net population, we’ve pushed that ahead in terms of urgency.”

Mitchell explained the development process as involving several time-consuming steps, including hiring an architect and getting approval from the state.

“It’s a big damn deal,” she said. But she noted that Island Health Care is about 90 percent complete with the building project as of now, and intends to open up the dental clinic in October. 

Currently, Mitchell said she believes that no private dental practices on the Island take MassHealth insurance. Some offices are trying to accommodate patients. 

Betsy Macpherson, office manager at Island Dentistry in Vineyard Haven, said it’s tough. “There’s been a huge shift, because dental insurance is expensive for the patient, but it’s also the dentists who are required to write off a huge portion of that if they are participants,” Macpherson said. 

Currently, Macpherson said, their office can’t even take any new patients until October 2025. She said staffing shortages have made it really hard for the office, and they’ve been advertising for more hygienists for more than a year. 

“We will file for patients that have other forms of insurance, like retirees. But we’re not a participating dentist for those other kinds of health insurance,” Macpherson said. 

She noted that they do accept Blue Cross Blue Shield and Delta Dental, although not MassHealth. 

As efforts continue for Island Health Care’s new dental clinic, dental offices and patients across the Island continue to struggle. 

But Johnson said he heard rumors regarding the new clinic in Edgartown. He said that he is hopeful.

Island Health Care is holding a benefit on July 24, beginning at 5:30 pm at the Edgartown Boathouse and Field Club. More information about the work on the dental clinic will be provided there.