Time to Sign Up for Dental Insurance through Covered California

Sign up by December 15 for adult dental coverage starting January 1.

This month marks the first time that California’s health insurance exchange, Covered California, has offered dental insurance coverage for adults.

As of November 19, about 33,000 adults have taken advantage of this opportunity to sign up for dental plans. If you do not have dental insurance coverage, we strongly suggest joining them.

Why Get Dental Insurance

By making it easier to get preventative care, dental insurance offers many essential benefits.

First of all, dental insurance provides incentive to get your routine dental cleanings and exams, since these services are covered at no out of pocket expense in many plans. Routine dental cleanings—along with proper oral care at home—provide the best protection against tooth decay and gum disease. Not only does this save you from pain, but it can also help prevent tooth loss.

Preventative dental care can also help protect your overall health. After all, many serious diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s have been linked to oral bacteria. So when oral bacteria are controlled with proper dental care, this can have a beneficial effect on the whole body. Having a dentist screen you for oral cancer as part of your dental exam also has life-saving potential.

Types of Coverage Available

While preventative and diagnostic dental coverage is considered an essential benefit for children and is included in all kid’s health insurance plans offered on the exchange, dental coverage for adults is treated as an add-on. In order to get access to plans through Covered California you must first sign up for health coverage. Then you will have the option to purchase a dental plan from one of the following providers:

• Access Dental Plan
• Anthem Blue Cross of California
• Delta Dental of California
• Dental Health Services
• Premier Access

Monthly premiums range from $11 to $65. Subsidies are not available but the plans are required to accept all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions.

The main choice to make when picking your Covered California dental plan is deciding whether you want to be covered by a dental health maintenance organization or a dental preferred provider organization. The dental health maintenance organizations typically charge less for care but your choice of dentists is rather restricted. The dental preferred provider organizations offer a much wider selection of dentists but the out of pocket costs may be higher.

We Accept Delta Dental

At California Dental Group, we are proud to be a preferred provider for Delta Dental. This is the most popular of the plans offered by Covered California, having signed up 23,000 of the 33,000 people who have gotten dental insurance on the exchange so far this month.

If you are excited to use your new dental insurance as soon as your coverage begins in 2016, call us now to schedule your appointment.