Why 1099 Workers in Lincoln County Need Standalone Dental Coverage
Hugo is the county seat of Lincoln County, a very sparsely populated eastern plains community where dryland farming and ranching are the primary activities — many residents buy dental coverage on their own.
No employer means no one else picks your dental plan. 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 Connect for Health Colorado, adult dental coverage is a separate decision in Lincoln County.
DPPO vs. DHMO: Choosing the Right Dental Plan in Lincoln County
Most stand-alone dental plans are PPOs or HMOs. A dental PPO pays toward any licensed dentist but pays more in-network; a dental HMO usually costs less but only pays its own network dentists. If you want to keep a dentist you already see in Lincoln County, a PPO that includes the office is normally the better fit.
If your work keeps you on the road, a dental PPO’s out-of-network benefit is worth paying for; if you rarely leave Lincoln County and like a network dentist, a dental HMO keeps the premium down.
No website can reliably tell you which dentists in Lincoln 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 Colorado
For the self-employed, dental premiums usually qualify for the self-employed health insurance deduction. It lowers income tax, not self-employment tax, is capped at the business’s net profit, and is lost for any month you could have joined an employer-subsidized plan.
If you own more than 2% of an S corporation, the premiums generally have to be paid or reimbursed by the company and included in your W-2 wages before you can take the deduction. A CPA can set that up.
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. Medicare’s hospital directory shows a single emergency department in Lincoln County, at Lincoln Health Hospital. One of the county’s hospitals is a critical access hospital, the small rural facilities Medicare designates to keep emergency care close.
Call (713) 575-9904 and Daniel will send the dental plans sold in Lincoln County and check your provider against each network.