Key Takeaways
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes pediatric dental benefits as one of the essential health benefits
- When families are shopping for health and dental insurance outside of the Exchange, they face greater uncertainty about their coverage choices and options.
- Aligning the markets will provide greater choice and stability for families, whether they choose to purchase coverage on or outside of the Exchange.
Summary
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires coverage offered in the individual and small group markets to provide essential health benefits, including pediatric oral health benefits. The inclusion of dental benefits for children builds on the roughly 42 million children who had dental coverage through private health plans 鈥� both through employer and individual market coverage 鈥� in 2010. An analysis found that an estimated 8.7 million children will receive dental coverage by 2018 due to the coverage expansions under the ACA.