Medicare finally covers teeth, hearing, and eyes—but premiums will rise
S. 939 — Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Expansion Act of 2025 · Filed by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill expands Medicare to cover dental care (cleanings, fillings, dentures, root canals), hearing aids and audiology services, and routine eye exams and eyeglasses starting in 2026–2027. Medicare will pay 80% of costs for most services and 100% for preventive dental care. The bill appropriates $1.77 billion to implement these benefits over the next decade and phases in the premium impact gradually from 2026–2030 to limit immediate cost shock to beneficiaries.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to add three new benefit categories to Medicare Part B (dental, hearing, vision) with defined payment schedules, frequency limits, and a phased premium implementation. This is straightforward benefit expansion, not a tax provision, deregulation, or narrow carve-out.
What the text implies
- Premium increases will be phased in gradually (2026–2030) but will eventually be fully reflected; beneficiaries should expect sustained Part B premium growth tied to utilization of new benefits.
- Fee schedules are pegged to 2020 ADA survey data and GSA Federal Supply Schedule rates, which may lag current market prices and could constrain provider participation or create access bottlenecks in rural areas.
- Hearing aid and eyeglass payment limits are capped at GSA rates (2021 baseline, updated annually by CPI minus productivity adjustment), potentially limiting beneficiary choice to lower-cost options.
- Dental and audiology services in rural health clinics and FQHCs will use temporary PFS-based rates until 2031; if sufficient data is not collected by then, payment methodology may shift, creating uncertainty for rural providers.
- Competitive acquisition applies to hearing aids and eyeglasses, which may reduce supplier margins and could affect availability in underserved areas.
Who it affects
Ordinary Medicare beneficiaries gain access to three major health services previously excluded from coverage, with federal cost-sharing at 80% and preventive dental at 100%. The phased premium increase (2026–2030) protects current beneficiaries from sudden cost spikes. The primary trade-off is higher Part B premiums over time, but the benefit—coverage of routine dental, hearing, and vision care—addresses a documented gap in Medicare and improves health outcomes for seniors.
Who stands to gain
- dental service providers (dentists, oral surgeons, hygienists)
- hearing aid suppliers and audiologists
- optometrists and ophthalmologists
- rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers
- Medicare Advantage plans (expanded covered services may increase enrollment appeal)
Named in the bill
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Social Security Act (Sections 1861, 1833, 1834, 1839, 1842, 1847, 1862, 1877, 1821), American Dental Association (2020 Survey of Dental Fees), General Services Administration (Federal Supply Schedule), National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences, Medicare Part B, Medicare Advantage (Part C), Rural Health Clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Medicaid (Title XIX)
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 8 Democrats.
- Mar 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $441,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Bernie Sanders, the sponsor, reported $-5,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Communications Workers of America — $431,000 on 1 filing
- Trea Senior Citizens League — $10,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 10, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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