Middle Class Gap

I've identified a huge (and pretty literal) gap for the lower middle class: dental care.



If you're lower income you often qualify for medicaid and can get basic dental care, at least for your kids. If you're upper middle class or higher there's a good chance that you're working for a company that offers decent dental benefits.
But if you're stuck in that income range that's too high for public assistance but not high enough/privileged enough to get good dental coverage at work, you're pretty well screwed when it comes to dental care.

It's hard enough to try to make ends meet when you're in this income bracket. You make just enough to pay your bills but not really enough to save up for retirement, major emergencies, or really good dental care. Most people in this bracket are already faced with the high costs of health insurance because employers have been cutting back on benefits and unloading most of the financial burden on the employees. Dental care ends up being a true luxury.

Heaven forbid you get a toothache. Dentists aren't known for their compassion or generous natures. If you can't afford to have a tooth taken care of, you're out of luck. You can either go into debt to have it properly taken care of (and root canals, crowns, etc. can cost more than a hospital stay), live with the pain, let it continue decaying, or have it pulled. There aren't many other options. And to a family that's just surviving, going into debt for one or two teeth isn't really a viable option, especially with multiple family members in need of care. How do you pick and choose whose teeth are more important?

Or do you just give up and go with this option?:



When I look around and see good, hardworking people who haven't been able to get proper care for their teeth because they are in this dental no-man's land, I can't help but think that there's something wrong with the system. It's hard to want to "get ahead" and be independent and self-reliant when it's so much easier to go with a lower stress, lower paying job and just accept all the benefits available to lower income families. What's the point of trying to take care of ourselves if:
a) we can't really afford to do a good job of it, and
b) the government is willing to provide more care for less effort??

Can we see why so many people don't bother to work hard and try to realize the "American dream" anymore??! (Is it starting to feel more like the "American nightmare"??) Wouldn't it be nice if companies actually rewarded hard work and integrity with good benefits and reciprocal loyalty? I'm not so young that I can't remember a time when that was the case.

And yes, we are one of those families in this situation. If anyone would like to subsidize our dental care, we would happily take donations. (And I'm only kinda kidding about that...)