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American Dental Education Association


Volume 3, No. 89, July 10, 2025

President Signs H.R. 1 on Reconciliation
 
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our Action Alerts to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate; your efforts did not go unnoticed on Capitol Hill. While we were not able to forestall some problematic provisions, your efforts assisted in mitigating even worse provisions, especially in the federal student loan programs.

Impact on Higher Education
 
Higher education federal student loans and health care for low-income individuals carried the brunt of the programmatic cuts to partially offset the tax provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1 (OBBB) [ [link removed] ] , accounting for $1.1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years.
 
The ending of the Grad PLUS and changes to the Parent PLUS loans and the loan caps for graduate students remained in the bill that was signed into law, as was reported in last week’s ADEA Advocate. [ [link removed] ]
 
The endowment tax adjustment included in the final version creates a sliding scale from 1.4% (the current rate for all institutions) up to 8%, rather than the 21% that was contained in the House version of the bill. This excise tax applies only to private institutions with at least 500 students and endowments that amount to $500,000 per full-time equivalent student. The following table displays the provisions:

Medicaid Changes
 
The major changes were to the Medicaid program.
 
The new law eliminates the temporary incentive for states that newly adopt expansion (i.e., the 90% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)), effective Jan. 1, 2026.
 
The law also does the following (effective on Oct. 1, 2028):
 • It requires states to impose cost sharing of up to $35 per patient visit on expansion adults with incomes 100% to 138% above the federal poverty line (FPL).
 • It explicitly exempts primary care, mental health and substance use disorder services from cost sharing, maintains existing exemptions of certain services from cost sharing and limits cost sharing for prescription drugs to nominal amounts.
 • The bill also exempts services provided by federally qualified health centers, behavioral health clinics and rural health clinics from cost sharing.
 • It provides $15 million in implementation funding for fiscal year (FY) 2026.
 • It maintains the 5% of family income cap on out-of-pocket costs.

 
Effective Oct. 1, 2026, the new law limits federal matching payments for Emergency Medicaid for individuals who, except for their immigration status, would otherwise be eligible for expansion coverage to the state’s regular FMAP. The law provides $1 million in implementation funding for FY 2026.
 
Additionally, the new law requires Medicaid eligibility for individuals ages 19-64 who are applying for coverage or currently enrolled through the Affordable Care Act (ACT) expansion group (or a waiver) to work or participate in qualifying activities for at least 80 hours per month. The law exempts certain adults, including parents of dependent children 13 or under and those who are medically frail, from the requirements.
The law specifies that seasonal workers meet requirements if the average monthly income meets a specified standard.
The law goes into effect no later than Dec.
31, 2026, or earlier at state option and allows the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to delay a state’s implementation to no later than Dec.
31, 2028, if the state is making good faith efforts to comply.
 
ADEA will closely monitor the implementation of all these provisions and report as needed. We now turn our priority attention to the Appropriations committees who are considering presidential requests to eliminate Oral Health Training programs and consolidate the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research into a new institute, along with two other Institutes.
 
ADEA will again need your help. The House Appropriations Committee has announced a schedule that has them marking up the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill in the Subcommittee on Monday, July 21, and at the full Committee on Thursday, July 24. Expect an Action Alert request soon.

Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit Challenging State Department’s Social Media Vetting Policy for Visa Applicants
 
On June 27, a District of Columbia Appellate Court threw out a case [ [link removed] ] that challenged the State Department’s policy to vet social media accounts of student and exchange visitor visa applicants. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the policy violated their First Amendment rights by requiring them to make their social media accounts public.
District of Columbia Appellate Court Judge J. Michelle Childs ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing.

Judge Puts HHS Reorganization on Hold
 
On March 27, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the reorganization [ [link removed] ] of HHS. It included consolidating its 28 divisions into 15, reducing staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 and creating a new Administration for Healthy America (AHA). Nineteen states and the District of Columbia, led by the State of New York, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on May 5, State of New York, et.al. v. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., et.al. [ [link removed] ] , seeking to stop the Trump administration’s implementation of the reorganization.

 
On July 1, District Judge Melissa DuBose issued an order granting the states’ request for an injunction, enjoining HHS from taking any actions to implement or enforce the planned reduction-in-force (RIF) — including additional RIFs or placing additional staff on administrative leave—or subagency and program restructuring.
DuBose concluded that, “The Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress.”
 
As this case continues, ADEA will keep you informed.

New Health Subcommittee Chair on Key House Committee
 
U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-GA), a pharmacist, has stepped down as Chair of the Health Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce. U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), the Full Committee Chair, announced that Carter will be replaced by U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA). Griffith is an attorney from the Southwestern panhandle of Virginia. Carter will remain a member of the Subcommittee.

Oklahoma Governor Signs Anti-fluoride Executive Order
 
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) issued an executive order [ [link removed] ] that requires the Oklahoma State Department of Public Health (OSDH) to immediately stop recommending the addition of fluoride to community water and to conduct a review [ [link removed] ] of all of the state’s community water fluoridation policies.
Specifically, the order directs OSDH and the Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to:
 1. Conduct a comprehensive review of all current policies, regulations, procedures and practices related to the fluoridation of the public water supplies in the State of Oklahoma.
 2. Submit a written report to the Office of the Governor and legislative leadership within 90 days that documents all current fluoridation practices across municipal water systems and rural water districts in the state, as well as concrete recommendations and a timeline for transitioning away from a position or practice that mandates or promotes the fluoridation of the public water supply.
 3. No later than 60 days from the date the report is issued, revisit and revise any formal position on the practice of fluoridation of the public water supplies in the State of Oklahoma.
 4. Immediately cease any state-level promotion or endorsement of fluoridation of the public water supply pending the revised formal position.

The order also requires all other executive state agencies and agency heads to cooperate with any requests made by the Commissioner of Health and the Executive Director of DEQ for the order’s implementation.

Delaware Sends Bill to Governor That Would Allow Dental Hygienists to Administer Local Anesthesia
 
Both chambers of the Delaware General Assembly voted in favor of legislation [ [link removed] ] that would allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia under direct supervision of a licensed dentist. If the bill is signed by the governor or allowed to become law, Delaware would join all other states by allowing dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia.

Florida Makes Changes to Dental Student Loan Repayment Program
 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation [ [link removed] ] that expands eligibility for applying to the Dental Student Loan Repayment Program.
The bill allows a dental student or dental hygiene student who demonstrates an offer of employment in a public health program or a qualifying private practice to apply for the loan program before obtaining active employment.
Funds will not be awarded to students accepted to the program until they have met program requirements that include:
 • Demonstrating active employment in a public health program or qualifying private practice
 • Volunteering 25 hours per year, providing dental services in a free clinic located in a dental health professional shortage (HPSA) or medically underserved area or through a qualifying volunteer program.

Individuals employed at private practices are only eligible if their employer serves Medicaid recipients and other low-income patients and is located in a dental HPSA area or a medically underserved area.

ADEA Advocacy in Action
This appears weekly in the ADEA Advocate to summarize and provide direct links to recent advocacy actions taken by ADEA. Please let us know what you think and how we might improve its usefulness.
 
Issues and Resources
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on teledentistry
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Schools
 • ADEA policy brief [ [link removed] ] regarding overprescription of antibiotics
 • For a full list of ADEA memos, briefs and letters click here [ [link removed] ] .

Key Federal Issues [ [link removed] ]

ADEA U.S. Interactive Legislative and Regulatory Tracking Map [ [link removed] ]

Key State Issues [ [link removed] ]

The ADEA Advocate [ [link removed] ] is published weekly. Its purpose is to keep ADEA members abreast of federal and state issues and events of interest to the academic dentistry and the dental and research communities.
 
©2025
American Dental Education Association
655 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: 202-289-7201
Website: www.adea.org [ [link removed] ]

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B. Timothy Leeth, CPA
ADEA Chief Advocacy Officer
 
Bridgette DeHart, J.D.
ADEA Director of Federal Relations and Advocacy
 
Phillip Mauller, M.P.S.
ADEA Senior Director of State Relations and Advocacy
 
Contact Us:
[email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ]

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