Does Covered California cover dental?

All individual health insurance plans sold through the Covered California exchange will now include pediatric dental benefits for members younger than 19. Additionally, Covered California is offering new family dental plans to consumers who enroll in health insurance coverage in 2015.

The optional stand-alone family dental plans, which offer coverage for adults, will not be available at the beginning of open enrollment, which starts Nov. 15, but are planned to be added in early 2015. Covered California will offer both dental health maintenance organization (DHMO) and dental preferred provider organization (DPPO) plans, giving consumers a choice in the type of plan that will work best for them. There is no financial assistance available for the optional adult dental benefits.

There is no requirement to enroll children in a family dental plan. The family dental plan is optional and is primarily intended to offer affordable dental coverage to adults that was not available in 2014. Families should consider that adding their children to a family dental plan will result in an extra cost for the same dental services they already receive in their standard health insurance plan. The most likely reason to enroll a child in the family dental plan is if a dental provider they prefer for their child is not offered through their embedded coverage.

Below is a list of the pediatric dental coverage embedded with Covered California’s individual health insurance plans.

Family dental plans are offered from the companies listed below.