Kidd’s Stuttering Act

Improved Screening Standards: The Secretary of Health and Human Services will update core health quality measures to include screening for childhood-onset fluency disorders, including stuttering, for children aged 2 to 5 (Section 2(a)).

Mandatory Well-Child Screenings: Beginning January 1, 2027, Medicaid well-child visits will include required screenings for childhood-onset fluency disorders for children between the ages of 2 and 6 (Section 2(b)).

Expanded Medicaid Coverage: Medicaid must provide coverage for specified speech therapy services for childhood-onset fluency disorders, including those delivered via real-time audio and video telecommunications technology (Section 2(c)(1)(A)).

Treatment Parity for Medicaid: The bill ensures that treatment limitations for speech therapy related to fluency disorders are no more restrictive than those for other language or articulation disorders (Section 2(c)(1)(A)).

CHIP Coverage Expansion: Beginning January 1, 2027, the child health assistance provided to targeted low-income children through CHIP will include coverage for specified speech therapy services (Section 2(c)(2)(A)).