On July 19, 2023, the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), along with several other dental organizations, sent a letter to the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Committee on Health Insurance & Long-Term Care Issues, urging them to adopt the Medical Loss Ratios (MLR) for Dental Health Care Services Plans Model Act (the Model Act). MLR is a mandated ratio of an insurers' revenue that must be spent on patient care. This investment helps lead to better coverage and care for patients as well as make sure insurers are dedicating premiums for patient coverage and provider reimbursement. However, dental insurance was not included in the initial 2010 MLR reforms included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that applied to medical insurance. Therefore, the Model Act would require dental insurers to be more transparent in their operations and spend a majority of their premiums on patient care to ensure better dental care value for patients.

Impact on General Dentistry: The AGD strongly supports this critical act because dental patients deserve the same transparency and value from their dental insurance as medical patients. The AGD urges NCOIL to adopt the Model Act to improve accountability among dental insurers and to improve quality of dental patient care.