The $236 million settlement this week of a lawsuit with a onetime Xerox subsidiary over Medicaid-paid orthodontic expenses underscores what many parents already know: Braces are expensive.

Lawyers involved said it was the largest single resolution in history for a Medicaid lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. They said the state spent more than $1 billion on orthodontics under the Texas Medicaid program during the same time frame. The trouble is, as Attorney General Ken Paxton noted, the Medicaid program “does not cover braces for cosmetic purposes.”