SHOP for Employees
Agents & Brokers & the SHOP Marketplace
You can offer a free-standing dental plan through the SHOP Marketplace 2 ways:
In addition, some health insurance plans available in the SHOP Marketplace include dental benefits. If you pick a health plan that includes dental coverage, you don’t need to take any of the actions described below.
FYI You don’t have to offer dental coverage to employees. Offering dental coverage is entirely optional.
When you create your coverage offer in the SHOP Marketplace application, you’ll be asked if you want to include dental coverage.
The category of dental plan you choose affects how much your employees pay for dental premiums, deductibles and copayments, and the total amount they’d have to spend out-of-pocket for the year.
How the 2 coverage levels pay:
You can choose to offer one dental plan to your employees, or you can select a plan category — Low or High — and let your employees choose any dental plan available in that category.
As with health plans, you can choose how much of an employee’s dental premium you pay. You don’t have to pay any of it.
If you offer your employees a choice of dental plans, your contribution will be applied to the cost of whatever dental plan the employee picks.
If you choose to offer only dental coverage though the SHOP Marketplace, you’ll still need to login to your HealthCare.gov account, and go through the application process. When asked how you would like to offer coverage, select the “Dental Plans” box.
If you offer dependent coverage with a health plan, employees can choose to enroll their dependents in the health plan only, health and dental plans together, or just the dental plan.
No. You can offer dental coverage to your employees and, if you like, to their dependents. But you don’t have to.