Best New York Dental Insurance

If you have an independent health insurance plan, you shouldn’t assume that your plan includes coverage for your dental care needs. Under the Affordable Care Act, Marketplace plans aren’t required to provide coverage for routine or emergency dental care. This can leave you with thousands of dollars in dental care bills if you have a dental emergency or you need a major procedure. Thankfully, a number of dental insurance providers in New York offer both individual and family plan options.  

Quick Look: New York Dental Insurance

• Best for Humana Pharmacy: Humana
• Best for Young Adults and Families With Children and Teens: Guardian
• Best for Nationwide Coverage: Empire BlueCross BlueShield
• Best for Youth and Adult Orthodontia Coverage: Ameritas

The Best New York Dental Insurance

There are multiple insurance providers offering comprehensive dental insurance plans in New York for both individuals and families. The best insurance provider will vary depending on the type of coverages that you’re looking for and your budget. Let’s take a look at a few of the most popular insurance providers you’ll see when you search for coverage in New York. 

Humana 

Humana is an independent dental insurance provider offering coverage throughout New York State. Humana offers preventive coverage from just $19 a month for individuals, and you can choose to see both in-network and out-of-network dentists (though you’ll save money by staying within your network). Humana’s higher tier plans even include $100 worth of coverage for teeth whitening services, which is excluded on the vast majority of dental insurance plans.

In New York, Humana offers both dental insurance plans, preventative plans and dental benefit plans that don’t act as insurance but can lower the price you pay for your oral health needs. Humana even offers special plans for veterans in need of affordable care. Most plans also come with waiting periods as low as 7 days, so you can start using your coverage quickly after signing up. 

Guardian 

Guardian offers 2 primary dental insurance plan options in New York: Guardian Advantage Gold and Guardian Managed DentalGuard. With the Managed DentalGuard plan, you could pay as little as $15 a month for coverage, and the plan has no maximum benefit or deductible. However, you must see a dentist approved by Guardian’s network, and you must pay a set copayment that is calculated before your treatment appointment.

At $45 a month, the Guardian Advantage Gold plan is more expensive than the Managed DentalGuard plan. However, it offers you access to a richer network of dentists to choose from and additional benefits over the company’s more affordable plan. For example, major treatments (like dentures and implants) are covered on this plan, while they are not on the Managed DentalGuard plan. If you have a family history of oral health issues, it might be worth the extra monthly expense to protect yourself with this plan. 

Empire BlueCross BlueShield 

Like Guardian, Empire BlueCross BlueSheild offers a wide range of plan choices you can use to balance your monthly budget with dental benefits. The company’s most comprehensive plan choice is the BlueCross BlueShield Essential Choice Gold, which offers 100% coverage for exams and preventive treatments in-network and up to 80% coverage for scheduled and emergency dental treatments.

The Essential Choice Gold plan begins at $40 a month, but Empire BlueCross BlueSheild also offers a range of 4 lower-tier dental insurance plans that can more easily fit into your budget. Empire BlueCross BlueSheild’s plans also offer preferred provider organization (PPO) coverage, which means you can choose to see an out-of-network dentist and still use your benefits if you choose (though you’ll save more money by staying in the network). 

Ameritas

Though Ameritas offers dental insurance that is a bit more expensive than the average in New York state, this insurance provider can be an excellent option if you’re looking for extended coverage for orthodontics. Unlike most dental insurance providers, Ameritas extends its benefits to $1,000 worth of orthodontics coverage on most plans. Keep in mind that, unlike most other minimums you’ll find on dental insurance options, this $1,000 maximum applies to the life of the plan and is only valid for policy members under the age of 19.

Why Do You Need Dental Insurance?

Many men and women don’t fully understand how much money they’ll need to pay for major dental care and treatments without insurance. If you have health insurance, you might assume that these care costs will be covered at least partially by the company that issues your health insurance. However, the truth is that your health insurance plan usually won’t extend coverage to these types of services, which can leave you stuck with unexpected bills.

Dental insurance is an independent policy that helps you pay for a portion of your dental care costs. Most dental insurance plans provide you with complete coverage for routine care (like cleanings) and partial coverage for major treatments (like wisdom tooth removal or fillings). The right dental insurance plan can help you pay for any future dental care costs you run into as well as help your children receive regular and routine care that sets their smiles up for success. 

Try the New York State of Health

You can begin your search for dental insurance by checking out the New York State of Health Dental Plan Comparison tool. You can set your search to include only plans that will best fit you based on your family size, location and budget. Scroll through plan options to learn more about premiums, deductibles, maximum expenses and more that’s included on each plan. You’ll likely be presented with a wide range of coverage providers, so be sure to leave yourself with plenty of time to investigate all of your options. 

Finding the right insurance provider for your family can seem like an overwhelming process — but it doesn’t have to be. The insurance plans and providers that you’ll have access to will vary depending on where in New York you live. Consider beginning your search for coverage with a few of Benzinga’s best New York dental insurance providers. 

Frequently Asked Questions