Dozens of dentists and dental students stood behind Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, during a press conference this week in Sacramento to show their support for a bill intended to enhance dental care accessibility and prohibit dental insurance companies from requiring out-of-pocket payments for covered services.
“As things stand, dental insurance companies are able to use loopholes to deny people access to care,” Haney said at the Tuesday press conference outside the California State Capitol Museum.
“Dental care should be affordable, accessible and timely. It shouldn’t be an hour from where they live or work. It shouldn’t be something they have to pay for out-of-pocket when they’ve already paid for insurance,” he said.
Assembly Bill 371 would mandate that dental insurance companies in the state provide enrollees access to in-network dentists within 15 miles of the patient’s residence or workplace. Existing law does not specify that dental insurance companies have to abide by distance parameters for care they cover.