Nationally, dentists shy away from treating Medicaid patients. Many complain that this patient population has a far higher no-show rate than patients with private insurance, according to a May 2011 report called "The State of Children's Dental Health" from the Pew Center on the States. Medicaid compensation often falls woefully short of the cost of care: 33 states reimbursed under 60.5 cents for every dollar a dentist charged, according to the Pew study.  

As the U.S. economy struggled to get back on its feet over the past few years, a lot of states found themselves contending with big budget deficits. They responded by firing workers, raising taxes and cutting spending. Now the fiscal picture for a lot of states is brightening a bit—but many still face enormous challenges.

Although the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, communities throughout the United States are still struggling to cope with the effects of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Unemployment is 8.6 percent, and income inequality is at its highest levels in decades. Despite incremental improvements over the course of 2011, metropolitan areas across America continue to suffer from sluggish hiring and lackluster growth.  

You’re just jealous. At least that’s how Mitt Romney sees it. The millionaire who posed for a picture with the boys at Bain Capital with the long green clinched between their teeth and poking out of their collars and jackets now says that people who question what he did there, and what rich people do now, are just green with envy. more

[Some] Pew stats on divorce that Kevin Drum highlights today (see fact sheet for more) are a good pretext for something I've been meaning to get off my chest for a while. When people look at income statistics, they often fail to explicitly account for the fact that there are tradeoffs between economic and non-economic aspects of life. more