A teeth-cleaning by a third-year dental student at NYU costs $60, but in Harlem and the Bronx dentists will pay you to open wide—if you're on Medicaid that is. The Post reported today on how dental offices lure in low-income patients offering 20 bucks cash for those who undergo a teeth cleaning and 40 for partial denture work. "There's a white van around the corner by the Salvation Army ready to take you and bring you right back," said one hawker who works the streets for a Bronx clinic. According to Medicaid officials offering to pay patients "is illegal and a sign of fraud."
A reporter traveled with ten others in the van to the office of Dental Plaza in The Bronx. "I'm getting them all today. People standing around; I'm bringing them in. It's money today!" bragged Victor Sotille, though later he said he'd been misunderstood. "I never said anything about money, boss!" claimed the seller. "I said you get a free toothbrush worth $20." One of the dentists also denied knowing anything about a potential insurance scam. "Look at the position you are putting me in. You are going to expose me to a lot of notoriety. I've done nothing wrong, and I'm really not comfortable talking to you," he said.
A spokesman for MB Globus, the office's parent company, claimed the payments were required to cover transportation and meals for Medicaid patients, but a representative for the government program said there is no such rule. The tabloid confirmed its findings by following a second Harlem hawker. "Money, money, money! Make some money! Go to the dentist!" he yelled on Lexington Avenue near 124th Street, offering $15 for a check-up. "You got a Medicaid card?" he was careful to ask.
