As part of the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s continued commitment to improving oral health for older adults and people with disabilities, and expanding Part B to include a comprehensive oral health benefit, Center attorneys are participating in oral health partnership meetings this week. The OPEN (Oral Health Progress & Equity Network, a national network of individuals and organizations that believe oral health is essential to overall health and wellbeing) convening is being held in Baltimore, MD. This event brings together groups focused on oral health equity, access, and coverage. Center attorneys are also participating in the OPEN Advocacy Day, in which groups will gather on the Hill for meetings to call for expanded oral health coverage, including adding a comprehensive oral health benefit in Part B of Medicare.
The Center joins our colleagues in supporting legislation that expands oral health coverage in Medicare. H.R. 4650, the “Medicare Dental Act of 2019.” This bill would be an important step toward providing comprehensive oral health coverage for all Medicare beneficiaries. It is critical to include such coverage in Part B, as this bill would do. We hope that the bill will continue to improve as it goes through the process, as outlined in the Center’s October 16, 2019 letter to the Energy & Commerce Committee.
The Center thanks the DentaQuest Partnership for its support of this work and its ongoing commitment to adding a comprehensive oral health benefit to Medicare.
- CMA Alert on OPEN: https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/new-oral-health-advocacy-collaborative-begins/
- Center letter to Energy & Commerce Committee: https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/cma-letter-to-e-and-c-supporting-hr3/
- Joint Advocate Letter: https://www.medicareadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Joint-Dental-Letter-10-2019.pdf
October 24, 2019 – K. Kertesz