Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2026

Key Points

• Starting January 1, 2028, states would be required to cover adult dental and oral health services under Medicaid instead of it being optional, guaranteeing millions of low-income adults access to a dentist no matter where they live.
• Covered services include dentures, implants, fillings, cleanings, and emergency treatment aimed at preventing disease, restoring function, and stopping oral pain before it becomes a medical emergency.
• To ease the transition, the federal government would pay 100 percent of the cost of these new dental services for the first three years after the requirement takes effect, before states begin sharing costs.
• States must start tracking and publicly reporting how well they serve different groups, breaking down dental care data by race, ethnicity, language, disability status, sexual orientation, and gender identity to find and fix unequal access.
• A new outreach and education program would help Medicaid enrollees find dentists and understand their coverage, while training providers to better serve pregnant patients, people with disabilities, and Alaska Native and American Indian communities.