Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2015
Latest action · Nov 23, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 25, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2015
Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to cover oral health services.
Increases the federal medical assistance percentage for oral health services, thereby increasing payments to states under Medicaid.
Directs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to maintain a database of dental benefits available to adult Medicaid enrollees in each state.
Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish, revise, and extend funding for grant programs for:
- educating nondental professionals about oral health care;
- providing dental services in hospital emergency rooms or in community settings;
- providing scholarships and education loans for oral health professional students;
- providing oral health services to low-income and underserved individuals;
- building, operating, or expanding dental clinics in schools; and
- providing mobile, comprehensive dental services at locations that serve individuals who qualify for benefits under specified programs.
Authorizes community based dental residencies.
Authorizes specified agencies to conduct research on oral health issues through FY2019.
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to make oral health services an essential health benefit.
Removes restrictions on the authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide dental care to veterans (thereby requiring dental care on the same basis as other VA-provided medical care and services).
Authorizes the VA, Department of Defense, Bureau of Prisons, and Indian Health Service to carry out demonstration programs to train and employ alternative dental health care providers in order to increase access to dental services.
Directs the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the expansion of dental service coverage pursuant to this Act.
Directs the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the implementation and utilization of expanded dental service coverage under this Act and the demonstration programs authorized by this Act.
Cosponsors 6
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 25, 2015 to Jul 5, 2016; 3 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MS | Bennie G. Thompson | Original | Feb 25, 2015 |
| D-NY | Charles B. Rangel | Original | Feb 25, 2015 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Original | Feb 25, 2015 |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Mar 4, 2015 | |
| D-OH | Marcy Kaptur | Oct 6, 2015 | |
| D-WA | Jim McDermott | Jul 5, 2016 |
Committees 6
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Energy and Commerce Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Mar 27, 2015 | |
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee | Referred Mar 16, 2015 | |
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee | Referred Mar 23, 2015 | |
| House | Veterans' Affairs Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Mar 6, 2015 | |
| House | Armed Services Committee | Referred Feb 25, 2015 |
| Military Personnel Subcommittee | Referred Nov 23, 2015 |
Actions 7
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Nov 23, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
- Mar 27, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Mar 23, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs.
- Mar 16, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
- Mar 6, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Feb 25, 2015Introduced in House
- Feb 25, 2015Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Natural Resources, Veterans' Affairs, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
In the Congressional Record 1
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Lists H1164H.R. 1055–1092 | — | Feb 25, 2015 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 32, February 25, 2015, page H1164.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 570 | Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2015 | Identical bill | Feb 25, 2015 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To improve access to oral health care for vulnerable and underserved populations.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Comprehensive Dental Reform Act of 2015
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Child health
- Congressional oversight
- Correctional facilities and imprisonment
- Dental care
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Education programs funding
- Elementary and secondary education
- Emergency medical services and trauma care
- Government information and archives
- Health
- Health care costs and insurance
- Health care coverage and access
- Health facilities and institutions
- Health information and medical records
- Health personnel
- Health programs administration and funding
- Health promotion and preventive care
- Health technology, devices, supplies
- Indian social and development programs
- Medicaid
- Medical education
- Medical research
- Medical tests and diagnostic methods
- Medicare
- Military medicine
- Minority health
- National Guard and reserves
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Research administration and funding
- Rural conditions and development
- Student aid and college costs
- Veterans' medical care
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 25, 2015Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
