Why 1099 Workers in Fairfax County Need Standalone Dental Coverage
Fairfax County is one of the nation's highest-income large counties, anchoring the DC metro's Virginia suburbs with Reston, McLean, and Tysons Corner — a massive concentration of federal contractors, tech companies, and government employees where many self-employed contractors and startup employees buy dental and vision coverage on their own.
Without an employer plan, dental coverage is something you arrange yourself. Health insurance and dental insurance are separate purchases for most adults, because adult dental isn’t an ACA essential health benefit. In Fairfax County that means choosing a health plan on Virginia’s Insurance Marketplace first and treating adult dental as its own purchase.
DPPO vs. DHMO: Choosing the Right Dental Plan in Fairfax County
Dental PPOs let you see any licensed dentist and pay more when the office is in-network. Dental HMOs trade that freedom for a lower premium and a closed network. For most people in Fairfax County the deciding question is simply whether their dentist is in the network.
Self-employed people who travel or change towns tend to prefer a dental PPO, which still pays out of network. If you’re settled in Fairfax County and a network dentist suits you, an HMO’s lower premium may be worth it.
No website can reliably tell you which dentists in Fairfax County take a particular plan. Offices join and leave networks, so search the plan’s provider directory by the dentist’s name and ZIP code, then call the office to confirm.
Dental Insurance and the Self-Employed Tax Deduction in Virginia
Self-employed? Dental premiums generally go into the self-employed health insurance deduction on Schedule 1, with the same limits as health premiums: no more than the business’s net profit, no months you were eligible for an employer-subsidized plan, and no reduction in self-employment tax.
S corporation owners with more than 2% of the company can still take the deduction, but only after the corporation pays or reimburses the premiums and includes them in the owner’s W-2 wages.
A dental plan pays dentists, not emergency rooms. If a tooth infection or a facial injury takes you to an emergency department, that bill goes to your health insurance. Reston Hospital Center is one of the 3 hospitals with emergency services that Medicare lists in Fairfax County; check which of them your health plan includes.
Call (713) 575-9904 and Daniel will price the dental plans available at your Fairfax County ZIP code and check the network for you.