Dental Coverage for Families in Boone County
Belvidere anchors Boone County northwest of Chicago, with the Chrysler Belvidere Assembly Plant historically as a major employer — an industrial and agricultural community where dental benefit access depends heavily on employer size.
For a family, the rules differ for the kids and the parents. Health insurance and dental insurance are separate purchases for most adults, because adult dental isn’t an ACA essential health benefit. Whatever health plan you pick through Get Covered Illinois, adult dental coverage is a separate decision in Boone County.
What Family Dental Plans Cover in Boone County
A family dental plan covers each enrolled person under one policy, with the same preventive, basic and major classes of care as an individual plan. Deductibles usually apply per person with a family cap: $50 a person up to $150 a family on SecureDental PLUS.
Braces are the most common surprise. On SecureDental PLUS they’re covered only on the Premium tier, at 70%, with a 12-month waiting period, a $500 yearly limit and a $1,500 lifetime limit, and many other plans don’t cover them at all.
Enrolling Your Family in Dental Coverage in Illinois
In Illinois the Marketplace is Get Covered Illinois, which offers dental plans next to its health plans during Open Enrollment and special enrollment periods. Off the Marketplace, a stand-alone dental plan isn’t tied to Open Enrollment at all. Put your ZIP code in the form below and Daniel will pull the dental plans sold at that address.
Check waiting periods before you buy. HealthCare.gov notes that separate dental plans can have waiting periods before they cover services for adults; on SecureDental PLUS, basic care waits 1 month and major care and orthodontia 12 months, while cleanings have no wait.
Know where the line sits: a dental plan covers care in a dentist’s chair, while an emergency department visit for a dental abscess or a jaw injury is a health insurance claim. Medicare’s hospital directory lists no hospital with emergency services in Boone County itself, so the nearest emergency department may be in a neighboring county.
Stand-alone dental plans are excepted benefits under federal law, so they don’t count as minimum essential coverage and never stand in for a health plan.
Call (713) 575-9904 to compare family dental plans for your address in Boone County, with the network checked before you apply.