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Senate committee hears testimony on adding medically necessary dental care to Medicaid expansion under SB 2231
Summary
Lawmakers and providers discussed Senate Bill 2,231, which would add medically necessary dental services to North Dakota's Medicaid expansion benefits for adults, focusing on eligibility, fiscal impact and access constraints. Committee postponed final action to a later meeting.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp Lee, sponsor of Senate Bill 2,231, asked the Senate Appropriations Committee's Human Resources Division on Wednesday to add "medically necessary dental services" to the Medicaid expansion benefit for adults, saying dental treatment should follow the screening and assessment already proposed in the bill.
The bill would cover adults 19 through 64 eligible under Medicaid expansion (income up to 138% of the federal poverty level), and the Fiscal Note presented during the hearing projected additional costs for the biennium. Senator Lee said the fiscal note before the committee was "$513,940 in general funds, and $4,600,000 in other funds for this biennium" and urged members to consider the treatment component alongside assessments.
The committee heard technical and policy comments from Sarah Acre, Executive Director of the Division of Medical Services at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, who described the population eligible under Medicaid expansion and confirmed the federal match. "Because Medicaid expansion has a ninety-ten federal match, the 10%…
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