Medicare Oral Health Coalition

While Medicare was established to provide for the health and well-being of older adults and people with disabilities and reduce medical debt, it leaves out a critical component of achieving these goals — oral health. The Medicare Oral Health Coalition works to ensure that all Medicare enrollees will have affordable, comprehensive oral health coverage as part of their overall health coverage. The coalition represents a broad set of organizations representing consumers, seniors, people with disabilities, patients, providers, industry, social service, and others.

The coalition’s formal members currently include Families USA, AARP, National Rural Health Association, National Association of Community Health Centers, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Justice in Aging, Center for Medicare Advocacy, The Arc of the United States, American Dental Hygienists’ Association, National Council on Aging, Meals on Wheels, the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, Community Catalyst, the Gerontological Society of America, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Dialysis Patient Citizens, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, National Coalition of Dentists for Health Equity, and the Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) Inc. The coalition also welcomes input and participation from a diversity of other interested stakeholders.

Coalition Background:

• To learn more about what the Medicare Oral Health Coalition is working toward, please see our Guiding Principles.
• To understand more about how the Medicare Oral Health Coalition operates, please see our Operational Outline.

Recent Activity:

• The Coalition sent a letter urging President Biden and Congress to include Medicare oral health coverage in their priorities for 2021 and applauding their stated commitments to expand access to health coverage and improve Medicare benefits.
• This letter expresses the Coalition’s support of Sen. Cardin and Rep. Barragan Medicare Dental Benefit Act of 2021 (S.97/H.R. 502).
• The Medicare Oral Health Coalition shared our priorities with the Biden-Harris Transition Team, urging them to include Medicare oral health coverage in its health care agenda, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, support economic recovery, and promote health equity. See our Coalition Letter to the Transition Team.
• To see the Medicare Oral Health Coalition’s statement to the 2020 Presidential platform committees on the importance of including Medicare oral health coverage in both parties’ platforms, see our Statement to Platform Committees.