Plan Doesn’t Offer Dental, How Can I Get Dental?
My husband’s new employer does not offer dental coverage. How can I get coverage for our family, which includes one child?
Answer
All plans that offer coverage to children must offer pediatric dental, but not adult. If your plan doesn't offer dental you can get it as a standalone plan during open enrollment. Outside of open enrollment you may not be able to purchase dental or vision unless you qualify for a special enrollment period. That being said you can check with a broker to see if you can find dental and vision as a standalone plan.
One more note, your employer should be providing pediatric dental as part of their group plan. Sometimes it's offered as a standalone plan and must be enrolled in separately. You may want to check with your employer to see what is going on here, there is a chance that they don't understand the rules and it could be helpful to them to clarify this.
Is there a penalty for a small group employer under 10 Lives to offer a stand alone dental policy only and not the mandated Obamacare dental policy? Thanks.
A business that size is not required to offer health insurance. There is no penalty for offering insurance of any kind as a small business and small business employers can use the SHOP to offer coverage and get tax benefits for doing so. It’s not required, but it’s an option to look into.