Health care reform: Advocating for expansion

To help consumers compare dental benefits plans and promote expansion of adult coverage, our work with our coalition partners includes advocating for rules that achieve the following:

1. Require children’s dental plans to be offered and priced separately so that the true cost and character of the plans are easily compared. Consumers should be allowed to mix and match their preferred medical and dental options as they shop on Exchanges.
2. Allow adult dental coverage, as well as more comprehensive children’s coverage, to be sold in Exchanges, beyond federally recommended minimum levels. Dental benefits today are generally sold as family policies. Rules should help enable family coverage to continue, even with optional adult coverage and children’s required coverage.
3. Ensure that only rules and market reforms relevant to dental are applied to dental in Exchanges. Dental is different than medical and it is neither cost effective nor necessary to apply the same rules to both.
4. For children’s dental benefits, ensure the same rules affecting stand-alone dental plans inside Exchanges are also applied outside Exchanges. Small businesses and individuals that receive federal subsidies will be required to purchase essential health benefits from their state Exchange. However, those that are not eligible for federal help will be free to purchase their essential benefits inside or outside Exchanges. We maintain that the same rules should apply so that children’s dental coverage is transparent no matter wherever plans are purchased.