# 119-s-5091: Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2026

119-s-5091, Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD] (D-MD); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-27).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5091
- As of: 2026-08-27
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-5091
- Congress: 119
- Title: Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-22
- Sponsor: Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-08-27

## Summary

**Mandatory adult Medicaid dental and oral health coverage** would be added to the list of required Medicaid services, creating a defined baseline of covered dental care and protections for institutionalized medically needy adults. It would pair the new benefit with a time‑limited 100% federal matching rate to encourage State and Territory adoption beginning in 2028. - Adults and households: Low‑income adults enrolled in Medicaid would gain guaranteed coverage for dentures, implants, preventive care, treatment for pain and emergencies, and other oral health services starting January 1, 2028. Institutionalized medically needy adults would have explicit access protections to these services. - States and Territories: States would be eligible for a 100% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for dental spending for a 12‑quarter period beginning January 1, 2028. Territories would get a comparable 12‑quarter enhanced match after they first add coverage, and those enhanced funds would be excluded from territorial cap calculations. - Quality, equity, reporting, and outreach: HHS would develop an adult oral health core set of quality and equity measures, require annual State reporting with demographic stratification, publish data at least every two years, and run outreach and technical assistance. The bill authorizes $10 million for the reporting and related activities.

## Provisions PRIA read

- New Medicaid adult dental coverage: benefit, high. If enacted, Medicaid would have to cover dental and oral health services for adults starting in calendar quarters beginning January 1, 2028. Covered services would include dentures, implants, prevention, restorations, pain relief, and emergency dental care. Providers must be legally authorized unde…
- State adult oral health reporting: benefit, low. If enacted, each State and CHIP plan would have to report adult oral health quality and equity data every year. Reports must include measures and data broken down by race, ethnicity, primary language, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The Secretary would publish the collected inf…
- 100% federal match and limits: mixed, high. If enacted, the federal government would pay 100% of Medicaid costs for the new adult dental benefit for 12 quarters starting January 1, 2028 for States and for 12 quarters beginning when a Territory first starts coverage. The 100% match would not apply to optional extra dental items that a State e…

## Related bills

- 119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026
- 119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act
- 119-s-5283: Momnibus Act
- 119-s-4504: Full-Service Community School Expansion Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act

## Sources
- [119-s-5091 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5091)

## Related
- [119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4949)
- [119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2838)
- [119-s-5283: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5283)
- [119-s-4504: Full-Service Community School Expansion Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4504)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5091 (as of 2026-08-27).