Dental Care in the US -- "Some people can get it, and some people can't."

I read the article named "Boom Times for Dentists, but Not for Teeth" (Oct 11, The New York Times). This sentence makes me think about the gap between have and have-not in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/business/11decay.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

For middle-class and wealthy Americans, straight white teeth are still a virtual birthright. And dentists say that a majority of people in this country receive high-quality care.

But many poor and lower-middle-class families do not receive adequate care, in part because most dentists want customers who can pay cash or have private insurance, and they do not accept Medicaid patients. As a result, publicly supported dental clinics have months-long waiting lists even for people who need major surgery for decayed teeth. At the pediatric clinic managed by the state-supported University of Florida dental school, for example, low-income children must wait six months for surgery.

One more quote from the same article for another purpose:

“Most dentists consider themselves to be in the business of dentistry rather than the practice of dentistry,” said Dr. David A. Nash, a professor of pediatric dentistry at the University of Kentucky.

This sentence would be a good example of "rather than" for English learners in Japan. High school students in Japan are often taught "not... so much as..." as a commonly used English phrase.

- He is not a manager so much as a salesman.

However, this phrase is not easy for Japanese. They often get confused where to put "a manager" and "a salesman." Therefore, I recommend that you use "rather than."

- He is a salesman rather than a manager.