The Legal Aid Society’s Belkys Garcia recently joined The Capitol Pressroom to discuss her team’s historic legal settlement that will bring dental coverage to New Yorkers on Medicaid.

The settlement, achieved with pro bono partners Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, will affect roughly five million individuals statewide. Most significantly, it ends the strict limit denying coverage for crowns and root canals to individuals with more than four pairs of teeth, an archaic policy not aligned with modern US dental practice.

“The coverage rules were essentially stuck in the 50s and 60s,” she said. “But from here, New York has to ensure equal access and enforcement of the rules.”

Garcia is hopeful that under the new rules earlier access to services like root canals will prevent dental and overall health issues from becoming more serious.

Listen to the full episode below.