Schumer and Sanders push to add dental, hearing and vision coverage to Medicare

Millions of elderly Americans on Medicare would get dental, vision and hearing insurance added to their health benefits under a proposal pushed Sunday by Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Americans age 65 and older have since the 1960s received subsidized health care coverage under Medicare — but Schumer said the program’s lack of additional benefits leave millions with dental problems and expensive bills for vision and hearing treatments.

Schumer and Sanders plan to add the additional benefits to the American Jobs and Family Plan pushed by President Joe Biden in April. White House officials did not include expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision in its original proposal.

“If you talk to family medicine or primary care doctors, they will tell you with certainty that ignoring medical issues related to dental, vision and hearing often devolves into far more serious medical problems for people — especially seniors — that cost more to treat and are harder to remedy,” Schumer said during a news conference Sunday. “With the current Medicare platform, those three things are just left out, like it’s no big deal. But it is a big deal and we should fix it.”

Schumer, the Senate majority leader, pointed to a 2020 Harvard Medical School study that estimated 1 in 5 Americans over the age of 65 has untreated tooth decay as evidence the new benefits are sorely needed.

He said the lack of extra Medicare benefits is one of the most common gripes he hears from his constituents — but noted the expansion will be a tough sell in Washington.

“This is absolutely an uphill legislative effort because there are some in the Senate who really don’t think this is a problem worth fixing, and so we have to galvanize support from the public,” said Schumer. “Now is our chance to fix a giant Medicare health care hole for seniors that inevitably costs lives.”