Dental Coverage for Families in Jefferson County
Jefferson County covers Denver's western suburbs from Lakewood to Evergreen, housing a mix of federal agency workers (NREL, USGS in Golden), outdoor industry employees, and small-business owners with very different dental benefit situations.
Families buy dental coverage for two different groups: children and adults. Adult dental care isn’t an essential health benefit under the ACA, so a health plan in Colorado doesn’t have to include it. Whatever health plan you pick through Connect for Health Colorado, adult dental coverage is a separate decision in Jefferson County.
What Family Dental Plans Cover in Jefferson County
Family plans put everyone on one policy but keep the benefits per person. On SecureDental PLUS, for example, each person has a $50 deductible, capped at $150 for the family, and cleanings and exams are covered in-network without it.
If braces are likely, read the orthodontia terms first: plenty of dental plans leave them out, and SecureDental PLUS limits them to the Premium tier, paying 70% after 12 months up to $500 a year and $1,500 over a lifetime.
Enrolling Your Family in Dental Coverage in Colorado
In Colorado the Marketplace is Connect for Health Colorado, which offers dental plans next to its health plans during Open Enrollment and special enrollment periods. Outside the Marketplace there is no enrollment window for stand-alone dental, and coverage usually starts the first of the next month. Use the ZIP code form below and Daniel will send you the dental options for your address.
Waiting periods are the catch. On SecureDental PLUS, cleanings are covered right away, fillings after 1 month, and crowns, bridges and orthodontia after 12 months, and HealthCare.gov warns that separate dental plans in general can have waiting periods for adults.
Serious dental emergencies, such as spreading infection or a broken jaw, are usually treated in a hospital and billed to health insurance rather than the dental plan. In Jefferson County, Medicare’s hospital directory shows four hospitals with emergency departments, among them Centura Health-St. Anthony Hospital, Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital and 2 others.
Keep the category straight: dental insurance is an excepted benefit, not minimum essential coverage, so it sits alongside a health plan rather than replacing one.
Call (713) 575-9904 to compare family dental plans for your address in Jefferson County, with the network checked before you apply.