States must cover all dental care for poor kids and pregnant women.
H.R. 9833 — Ensuring Kids Have Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act · Filed by Nanette Barragán (D-CA) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill changes the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. States can no longer put yearly limits on dental care. States can no longer put lifetime limits on dental care. States must offer dental-only plans instead of making them optional. The bill starts 6 months after Congress passes it.
Who it affects
Low-income children and pregnant women in CHIP gain dental coverage. They no longer face yearly or lifetime caps on dental care. States that run CHIP must now offer dental-only plans.
One thing to notice
States may spend more money on CHIP dental care. This happens if states were using yearly or lifetime caps before.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
17 cosponsors: 17 Democrats.
- Jul 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Children's Health Insurance Program — A government program that pays for health care for low-income kids and pregnant women.
- lifetime limits — A cap on the total amount of money a health plan will pay over a person's whole life.
- yearly limits — A cap on the total amount of money a health plan will pay in one year.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,098 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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