Ensuring Kids Have Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 448 To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to prohibit lifetime or annual limits on dental coverage under the Children’s Health Insurance Pro- gram, and to require wraparound coverage of dental services for certain children under such program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Ms. STABENOW) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL 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 chil- dren under such program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Kids Have 4 Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S448.IS S448 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 448 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF LIFETIME OR ANNUAL LIMITS ON 1 DENTAL BENEFITS UNDER THE CHILDREN’S 2 HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2103(c)(6) of the Social 4 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397cc(c)(6)) is amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, subject 6 to subparagraph (D),’’ after ‘‘shall include’’; 7 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘A State’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘Subject to subparagraph (D), a 9 State’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(D) NO LIFETIME OR ANNUAL LIMITS ON 13 DENTAL BENEFITS.—A State shall not establish 14 lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of 15 benefits for dental services provided under the 16 State child health plan to a targeted low-income 17 child, and, in the case that the State elects to 18 provide pregnancy-related assistance pursuant 19 to section 2112, to a targeted low-income preg- 20 nant woman (as defined in section 2112(d)), in- 21 cluding benefits for such services that are pro- 22 vided through dental coverage that is otherwise 23 equivalent to a benchmark dental package de- 24 scribed in subparagraph (C).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S448.IS S448 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 448 IS (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall take effect on the date that is 6 months 2 after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 SEC. 3. REQUIRING WRAPAROUND COVERAGE OF DENTAL 4 SERVICES FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN UNDER 5 CHIP. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2110(b)(5) of the Social 7 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397jj(b)(5)) is amended— 8 (1) in the paragraph header, by striking ‘‘OP- 9 TION’’ and inserting ‘‘REQUIREMENT’’; 10 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘may 11 waive’’ and inserting ‘‘shall waive’’; and 12 (3) in subparagraph (C)— 13 (A) in the subparagraph header, by strik- 14 ing ‘‘CONDITIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘REQUIRE- 15 MENTS’’; and 16 (B) by striking ‘‘may not offer dental-only 17 supplemental coverage under this paragraph 18 unless the State satisfies the following condi- 19 tions’’ and inserting ‘‘shall offer dental-only 20 supplemental coverage under this paragraph in 21 accordance with the following requirements’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S448.IS S448 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 448 IS (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall take effect on the date that is 6 months 2 after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S448.IS S448 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS