H.R. 2045: Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2025

Medicare has excluded routine dental care, eyeglasses, and hearing aids since it was created. H.R. 2045 removes those exclusions and makes all three regular Medicare benefits, paid the same way Medicare pays a doctor's visit.

Preventive dental care — exams, cleanings, x-rays, and fluoride — would be covered at 100%, up to two cleanings and two exams a year. Everything else — fillings, extractions, crowns, bridges, root canals, gum treatment, and emergency care — phases in. On a $1,000 Medicare-approved dental bill, Medicare would pay $300 in the first year of the phase-in, $600 in the second, and $800 from the third year on.

If you qualify for Extra Help, Medicare's low-income drug subsidy, you skip the phase-in. Major dental work would be covered at 80% from the start. Dentures would be covered at 80%, limited to one full upper and one full lower set, plus one partial of each, every five years.

For vision, Medicare would pay 80% of one routine eye exam a year. Eyewear help is capped: up to $100 a year for lenses, $100 every two years for frames, and $200 every two years for contacts, with the lens and contact caps rising with inflation. Devices like prescribed magnifiers for low vision would also be covered at 80%.

Hearing aids would be covered at 80%, one per ear every four years, along with routine hearing exams and hearing-aid fittings. The Health and Human Services Secretary could add limits across all three benefits, including prior authorization and, for hearing aids, a minimum level of hearing loss.

The bill also adds at least one oral health professional to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the panel whose recommendations the Secretary can use to adjust these benefits over time.