Put People First PA Southeast Healthcare Rights Committee

On Monday, June 8 over 60 residents from across Pennsylvania converged on Harrisburg to demand, “We need our teeth!” Put People First! PA members were joined by clergy, PA Poor People's Campaign sister organizations, March on Harrisburg, National Union of the Homeless and PA Action on Climate, as well as Unite Armstrong, the PA Coalition for Oral Health and Unite Here.

Participants called on legislators to push HB 583 and SB 860 forward, legislation that would restore critical adult dental benefits to Medicaid after major cuts were made in 2011. Activities included legislative visits with Senators in the Health and Human Services Committee, as well as hand deliveries of hundreds of healthcare story cards to legislators and recording dozens of healthcare story videos, or .

The day also included a press conference in the East Wing Rotunda with half a dozen speakers from different counties sharing powerful testimony on why they joined the action at the Capitol. They were flanked by participants holding placards with dental horror stories and colorful banners. Watch the livestream here: https://www.facebook.com/PutPeopleFirstPA/videos/1609662596761355

Jason Long from Bloomsburg detailed how a dentist’s mistake during a routine root canal in 2010 caused four of his back molars to break. To fix that mistake and save those teeth, a specialist quoted him $3,000 per tooth. “That was $12,000 total. A working man, with insurance, facing a $12,000 paywall just to keep his own anatomy. The private system gave me an ultimatum, and like millions of others, I had to opt for extraction. But pulling those teeth wasn’t the end of it. It triggered a domino effect… Over the years, without the baseline care to halt the damage, the rest of my teeth began to deteriorate.”

Long told the crowd, “Today, I am on Medicaid—the safety net that is supposed to catch people—and I am sitting here watching my teeth actively rot out of my head because adult dental benefits were gutted.”

“Me myself has lost two molars in the rear on each side, same place because I could not afford the crown to go over top of my root canal,” Jonice Turner from Johnstown shared. “We are the people who put you guys into office. We use our power to give you the power to give us the benefits that we need to thrive and survive…We should have healthcare, housing and food to feed our children and our families. Pass Senate Bill 860!”

Click here to read Put People First! PA’s full Healthcare is a Human Right Platform and to take action to Restore the Adult Dental Benefit! https://putpeoplefirstpa.org/june2026-e-news-crowdthecapitol/

Want to support our day for dental care Monday 6/8 in Harrisburg but can't be there yourself?

Here are 5 things you CAN do:

1) Share the livestream of our press conference and speak-out! We'll go live from this page at 12:30 pm on 6/8.

2) Call into your legislators to demand the passage of SB 860 to restore the Adult Dental Benefit in Medicaid. You can get your legislators' names and phone numbers here: https://www.palegis.us/find-my-legislator

3) Share your healthcare and dental story with https://bit.ly/MedicaidMondaysForm

4) Sign up to get involved with a Healthcare Rights Committee in your region and organize for our entire platform: https://putpeoplefirstpa.org/joinus/

5) Contribute to our work! Put People First! PA is the only statewide member-led, staff-free organization led by people who are on or excluded from Medicaid in Pennsylvania. All of our funding goes directly into our work to unite our class and develop leaders: https://bit.ly/PPF-PA-website-donation