AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & DENTISTRY
Sensitizing Health Insurance Companies for the Care of Individuals with Disabilities
Disabilities BY H. BARRY WALDMAN, DDS, MPH, PHD, RICK RADER, MD, FAAIDD, FAADMD, DHL (HON) AND STEVEN P. PERLMAN, DDS, MSCD, DHL (HON)
Providing necessary healthcare for youngsters (and the not so young) with special health care needs can be difficult for the patient and the provider. For example:
“Some people neglect their health because of phobias about dentists, needles, diseases and germs.”1
"… a routine dental checkup may seem more like a nightmare: a masked dentist towers above them poking sharp objects into their mouth, loudly scraping or drilling their teeth as debris flies left and right. When that fear becomes a phobia, the experience can become even more intense, leading to a rapid heartbeat, heavy breathing, sweating and even fainting."1 "…another group of health phobic people doesn't so much fear treatment for a disease as the disease itself. And, the public's health anxieties may be getting worse. A recent study shows that the more a society promotes healthy lifestyles, the more people worry about their health and the sicker they feel… Often, disease phobias go hand-in-hand with obsessivecompulsive disorder – in which patients might wash their hands continuously to avoid becoming 'contaminated'… Some may become so frightened of contracting a disease that they are unable to leave their home."1
Third party private health insurance companies also have their difficulties, as they compete in the open insurance market with the continuing increases in health insurance costs. At end of 2019, the national average annual cost for private health insurance for a family of four was $20,576.2
The issue of costs for health insurance is compounded for families that are unable to secure needed insurance payments for desensitization (a behavioral technique commonly used to treat fear, anxiety disorders and phobias). Instead practitioners all too often refer patients with disabilities to operating rooms for care in community hospitals; thereby avoiding their private practice expenses and risks.
Systematic desensitization is engaged in some type of relaxation exercise and gradually exposed to an anxiety-producing stimulus, like an object or place. 3
According to systematic desensitization, a learned response (e.g. fear of spiders) can be unlearned through classical conditioning and a new response – relax when seeing a spider, can be induced.
STEPS
- The patient is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises. For example: Control over breathing, muscle relaxation or meditation. This step is very important where one response is inhibited because it is incompatible
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY
The American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) was organized in 2002 to provide a forum for healthcare professionals who provide clinical care to people with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities (ND/ID). The mission of the organization is to improve the quality and assure the parity of healthcare for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities throughout the lifespan.