Sponsors (15)
The bill expands and standardizes dental coverage for low-income children and some pregnant women—improving access and financial protection—but increases state and taxpayer costs and could prompt budgetary or administrative responses that reduce or disrupt other services.
Children enrolled in CHIP (low-income children) will gain required access to dental-only supplemental coverage and, by prohibiting annual and lifetime dollar limits, receive more continuous and comprehensive dental care.
Low-income pregnant women receiving pregnancy-related assistance will be able to obtain fuller dental coverage without annual or lifetime caps when the State elects such assistance, improving prenatal oral health access.
Removing dollar caps on dental benefits protects low-income families (especially families with children) from sudden out-of-pocket dental cost spikes and improves financial predictability for pediatric dental care.
States will face higher program costs to provide expanded dental coverage, and taxpayers could indirectly face higher Medicaid/CHIP spending if States expand benefits or cannot offset the added costs.
States lose a tool for limiting high-cost dental spending (annual/lifetime caps), which could prompt tighter eligibility, reduced provider payments, or other benefit adjustments that hurt access for some beneficiaries.
Mandating new dental supplemental programs and requiring states to meet any federal program features within a short timeframe (e.g., six months) could create administrative and operational challenges, increase state implementation costs, and risk disrupting other CHIP services during rollout.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Stops states from imposing lifetime or annual dollar caps on CHIP dental benefits and requires states to offer specified supplemental dental coverage.
Official title: To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to prohibit lifetime or annual limits on dental coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program, and to require wraparound coverage of dental services for certain children under such program.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Nanette Barragán · Last progress July 22, 2026
Prohibits states from imposing lifetime or annual dollar limits on dental benefits provided through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for targeted low-income children and, where applicable, targeted low-income pregnant women. Also converts certain optional state authorities into mandatory requirements so states must offer specified wraparound or supplemental dental coverage that meets federal requirements. The changes amend the Social Security Act to strengthen minimum dental coverage standards for CHIP beneficiaries, apply to benchmark-equivalent coverage, and take effect six months after enactment.