'Unacceptable': Dental care crisis leaves 2,000 people waiting as Council Bluffs clinic plans expansion

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Two thousand people — including 400 children — are on a waitlist at a single dental clinic in Council Bluffs; local healthcare professionals say Iowa's Medicaid reimbursement rates, and a shortage of providers, can force neighbors to drive hours to get care in western Iowa. "The need here in the southwestern part of Iowa is just overwhelming," said Joel Dougherty, CEO of All Care Health Center. The nonprofit is breaking ground on a new dental facility that will more than double the number of patients it can serve — up to 8,000 neighbors. "You can leave Minnesota, on the western half of this state, and if you don't stop here you're going to get all the way to the Missouri Border without finding someone who takes adult Medicaid patients, which is just unacceptable," Dougherty said. The waiting lists for children are long, too, according to Council Bluffs Community School District's lead nurse, Shawna Dunn.

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