Kidd’s Stuttering Act
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. McDowell (for himself, Mr. Figures, and Mr. Vindman) introduced …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Kidd's Stuttering Act requires Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to screen children ages 2-5 for stuttering and other childhood-onset fluency disorders starting in 2027. It also mandates that these programs cover speech therapy for these conditions, including through telehealth.
Who Benefits and How
Children with stuttering in low-income families will gain access to early screening and treatment through Medicaid and CHIP. Speech-language pathologists and speech therapy clinics will see increased demand for their services, as millions of children become eligible for covered care. Telehealth providers offering speech therapy services will also benefit from explicit inclusion as a covered delivery method.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State Medicaid and CHIP programs must implement new screening requirements and expand their coverage, increasing administrative costs and healthcare spending. The federal government will face higher Medicaid matching payments. Managed care organizations contracted with state Medicaid programs will need to cover additional speech therapy services.
Key Provisions
- Requires HHS to publish new quality measures for screening childhood-onset fluency disorders (stuttering) for children ages 2-5 by January 2026
- Mandates Medicaid and CHIP coverage of speech therapy for stuttering beginning January 2027
- Establishes parity requirements ensuring stuttering treatment cannot be more restricted than other speech therapy services
- Explicitly includes telehealth (real-time audio and video) as a covered modality for speech therapy services
- Defines "specified speech therapy services" in federal law for the first time
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
To require Medicaid and CHIP programs to screen children ages 2-5 for childhood-onset fluency disorders (stuttering) and to mandate coverage of speech therapy services for these conditions, including telehealth delivery.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Expand early childhood health screening and treatment coverage through Medicaid and CHIP to address stuttering and other fluency disorders, establishing parity with other speech therapy services."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Children ages 2-5 with stuttering or fluency disorders
- Low-income families with children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP
- Speech-language pathologists and speech therapy providers
- Telehealth speech therapy service providers
Likely Burden Bearers
- State Medicaid programs (increased coverage requirements)
- State CHIP programs (new mandatory coverage)
- Federal government (increased Medicaid and CHIP costs)
- State taxpayers (matching funds for expanded coverage)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Speech therapy services for the treatment of childhood-onset fluency disorders, including stuttering, including such services delivered through real-time, audio and video telecommunications technology (telehealth).
Fluency disorders including stuttering that begin in childhood, targeted for screening in children ages 2-5.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology