On March 11, 2024, the Biden Administration released its FY 2025 Budget Proposal. The Budget Proposal provides insight into the administration’s policy priorities, even though these legislative proposals are unlikely to be considered by the current Congress. Overall, the HHS Budget-in-Brief proposes $130.7 billion in discretionary budget authority and $1.7 trillion in mandatory budget authority for FY 2025.  According to HHS, the FY 2025 Budget illustrates HHS’ commitment to support American families, improve behavioral health, and ensure the nation’s readiness for the next public health crisis. It also includes proposals intended to: ensure all Americans have access to affordable healthcare; improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes; strengthen early care and education; address the needs of Indian Country; and advance scientific innovation.

The HHS budget proposes the following dental and oral health care provisions:

• Increase Indian Health Service (IHS) dental health funding to $276 million ($28 million increase from FY 2023 enacted funding);
• Increase National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research funding to $522 million ($2 million increase from FY 2023 enacted funding);
• Maintain Ryan White HIV/AIDS dental services funding at $14 million (budget neutral); and
• Maintain the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Oral Health Training funding at $43 million (budget neutral).

Additionally, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which manages health, dental, and vision insurance benefits for federal employees, proposes to expand the eligibility for the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). Specifically, OPM proposes expanding the definition of a “member of family” under FEDVIP to include persons up to 26 years of age. Currently, only dependents under 22 years of age are eligible for coverage. This expansion would align dental and vision benefits with medical benefits, which were expanded for dependents up to age 26 through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Impact on General Dentistry: HHS’s proposal will continue promoting strong access to dental and oral health care, especially for individuals in rural and underserved areas. OPM’s proposal to increase dental benefits for dependent children up to age 26 would improve access to dental health services to dependent adult children covered by federal health plans. It is critical to align this dental benefit with the medical benefit, as required by the ACA, to ensure individuals have access to timely and quality dental care.