This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on a budget resolution, which was passed by Senate Democrats earlier this month and includes an expansion of the Medicare program to include dental, vision and hearing benefits. This vote paves the way for a Congressional reconciliation process that would continue into the fall.

Now is the time for Congress to hear from dentists on how to design a new dental benefit in Medicare and how it could best work for dentists and Medicare patients.

As you know, the ADA remains committed to addressing the oral health needs of all Americans – including older Americans. While there are various proposals being floated on Capitol Hill, ADA policy says that the expansion of Medicare should:

• Include a range of services necessary to achieve and maintain oral health for beneficiaries whose income is up to 300% of the federal poverty level.
• Be sufficiently funded and efficiently administered to ensure access to care.

Congress is currently working on how to expand the Medicare program. Now is the time for you to contact your members of Congress with this message of how to create a new Part of Medicare that will work better for dentists and their patients than some of the alternative scenarios.