Medical Nutrition Therapy Act of 2026
Sens. Collins and Peters Push to Expand Medicare Coverage for Nutrition Counseling to More Health Conditions
Legislative Progress
Key Points
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Programs
This bill would significantly expand what Medicare covers by adding medical nutrition therapy for a long list of chronic conditions — not just diabetes and kidney disease. That means millions of Medicare beneficiaries dealing with obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, eating disorders, and other conditions could get covered nutrition counseling from a registered dietitian. For the two-thirds of Medicare fee-for-service patients with multiple chronic conditions, this could mean better health outcomes and lower out-of-pocket costs for care that was previously not covered.
“Coverage for medical nutrition therapy is only available to Medicare Part B beneficiaries with diabetes or a renal disease, despite medical nutrition therapy being part of the standard of care, in clinical guidelines, and medically necessary for many more chronic conditions.”
Disabilities
Milestones
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S709)
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Related News
2 articlesUS Senate healthcare bill updates
Medical Nutrition Therapy Act: Expands Medicare Part B coverage of Medical Nutrition Therapy beyond diabetes and renal disease to conditions such as high blood pressure, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, and broadens who can refer patients for MNT. Introduced February 27.
Fuelling prevention: federal levers to integrate nutrition into primary care
The proposed Medical Nutrition Therapy Act could be a real boon to federal goals through expanded coverage. Medicare currently only reimburses nutrition counseling for patients with diabetes or kidney disease; expanding this to obesity could prevent disease progression and reduce costs.
Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Medical Nutrition Therapy Act of 2026
Data Sources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
(1)Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.