YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyTransparency & AccountabilityAdults on Medicaid would get a guaranteed dental benefit, dentures and implants included, from January 2028.
Your Money
Every state Medicaid program would have to cover dental and oral health care for adults, not just for children. The rule starts with the calendar quarter beginning January 1, 2028.
The covered list names dentures and denture work, implants and implant work, care that prevents oral disease, work that restores teeth, pain relief, and emergency treatment. A state could choose to add more on top.
Within one year the department would set up a program to tell people what dental coverage they have and help them get to care. Materials would be in the languages people speak. It would also train dentists and doctors to serve people with disabilities, pregnant patients, and Native communities.
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa could decide for themselves whether to cover it. If they do, the federal government would pay the full cost for three years, and that money would not count against their capped Medicaid funding.
Transparency & Accountability
States would report every year on adult dental quality and on what their dental benefit actually pays for. The department would publish those reports within two years and every year after. Results would be broken out by race, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
The 100 percent federal match runs twelve quarters and ends after 2030. States would then go back to paying their normal share. Congress would have to act again to keep the full match going.
More about this bill
Adults on Medicaid would gain a guaranteed dental benefit on January 1, 2028. Coverage today is up to each state, so what you can get depends on where you live. The federal floor would include dentures, implants, and care to prevent disease, repair teeth, ease pain, or handle an emergency. States would owe nothing toward the new benefit for its first three years. The federal government would pay 100 percent of that care through the end of 2030. The regular state and federal cost split would take over after that. The five territories could opt in instead of being required to cover it. Dentist payment rates would stay as they are. A commission would report to Congress within two years on raising them. A new outreach program would help people learn what their coverage includes and connect them to care. States would report each year on the dental care adults receive, and the results would be posted publicly.
Congressional Summary
Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2026This bill requires state Medicaid programs to cover dental and oral health services for adults. It also increases the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., federal matching rate) for such services.The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must develop oral health quality and equity measures and conduct outreach relating to such coverage. Additionally, the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission must report on specified information relating to adult oral health care.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-07-22
- Date Added
- 2026-08-26
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.