Sponsors (4)
Introduced February 26, 2026 by Susan Margaret Collins · Last progress February 26, 2026
The bill expands Medicare coverage for medical nutrition therapy—improving access, clinical responsiveness, and (potentially) health outcomes and downstream savings—but it increases Medicare spending and administrative complexity, delays some benefits, and may produce uneven access or coverage uncertainty without careful implementation.
Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, kidney disease, cancer, eating disorders, and others) will gain broader access to covered medical nutrition therapy, improving disease management and health outcomes.
Authorizes additional provider types (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and clinical psychologists for eating disorders), increasing availability of nutrition services especially in underserved and rural areas.
Allows the Secretary to add other medically necessary conditions and clarifies statutory language (prevention, management, or treatment), which can make coverage more responsive to clinical needs and reduce administrative denials.
Broadening Medicare Part B coverage for medical nutrition therapy will increase Medicare program spending and put additional pressure on the Medicare trust fund, potentially raising costs for taxpayers or requiring offsets elsewhere in the program.
Implementing the expansion will create administrative and operational burdens (new billing codes, provider credentialing, oversight) and may generate billing disputes and coverage confusion for providers and hospitals.
The two‑year delayed effective date postpones access to expanded nutrition therapy for beneficiaries who could benefit immediately.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Expands Medicare Part B coverage of medical nutrition therapy to more chronic conditions, broadens eligible providers, and limits payment to services tied to covered conditions.
Expands Medicare Part B coverage for medical nutrition therapy so more beneficiaries with chronic conditions can receive nutrition services as a covered, payable benefit. It broadens the list of eligible conditions beyond diabetes and renal disease, allows additional licensed clinicians (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and clinical psychologists for eating disorders) to furnish and be paid for services, and restricts payment to services provided for listed conditions or those the Secretary adds as medically necessary. Changes amend the Social Security Act's definition of medical nutrition therapy and the Medicare payment exclusion rule; the new rules apply to items and services furnished in years beginning two years after enactment.