# Medicare Medically Necessary Dental Care Act of 2021

Right now, Medicare basically doesn't cover dental work. This bill would change that by allowing Medicare to pay for certain dental procedures when they're directly connected to serious medical conditions. Specifically, it would cover dental care for people who have had a prosthetic heart valve replacement, or who have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, or had an organ transplant.

The key idea behind this bill is that dental health and overall health are connected. The bill recognizes that people with serious medical conditions can face dangerous complications if they don't get proper dental care. For example, someone with a prosthetic heart valve is at risk of serious infection if they have untreated dental problems. By covering dental procedures for these specific situations, Medicare could help prevent infections and other complications that might otherwise require expensive hospital treatment.

Here's what would actually happen if this passes: if you're a Medicare beneficiary with one of these conditions, you could get dental work covered by Medicare, but only within one year of your diagnosis or treatment. So if you're diagnosed with head and neck cancer in January, you'd have until January of the next year to get the covered dental work done. The bill doesn't cover routine cleanings or cosmetic dental work—just procedures that are medically necessary because of your specific condition. The coverage would start on January 1, 2022, if the bill becomes law.

Medicare Medically Necessary Dental Care Act of 2021

Cohen, Steve

Medicare Medically Necessary Dental Care Act of 2021 This bill allows for coverage of certain medically necessary dental services under Medicare. Specifically, the bill allows for coverage of dental services that are furnished (1) in conjunction with treatment relating to a prosthetic heart valve replacement, cancer of the head or neck, lymphoma, leukemia, or organ transplantation; and (2) within one year after the date of diagnosis or the date of the related surgical or medical treatment for the diagnosis, whichever is later.