House passes Build Back Better without Medicare dental benefit expansion
On November 19, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376, the “BBB Act”), the budget reconciliation bill that includes much of President Biden’s economic and social policy agenda, by a vote of 220 to 212.
As noted in the November issue of Advocacy Brief, this $1.7 trillion spending package includes investments in health care, education, climate change, energy incentives, and more.
Previous versions of this bill included provisions to expand Medicare Part B to include dental coverage. At this time, those provisions have been eliminated from the bill. ASDA, along with the ADA, has advocated since September for a Medicare dental benefit that is sufficiently funded and efficiently administered. We believe a dental benefit within Part B of Medicare would not achieve these goals, and instead advocated for an alternate “Part T” approach. Complete details on ASDA’s interim policy on eldercare can be found in the October issue of Advocacy Brief.
The Senate will now consider the BBB Act that the House passed. If any changes are made, the House will need to vote again before it can go to the president to sign.
Open Enrollment for Affordable Care Act health insurance is happening now. The deadline to enroll in these health insurance plans for 2022 is January 15. As of November 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that nearly 2.5 million people have enrolled in, or renewed, Affordable Care Act plans since open enrollment started on November 1. About 450,000 were new enrollees.
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