Access to Child-Only Supplemental Dental Coverage Through CHIPRA: A Handbook for Advocates and Policymakers

The 2009 reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPRA) for the first time specifically addressed the oral health of children. CHIPRA’s many dental provisions established a new and comprehensive approach to oral health for beneficiaries by providing a dental benefit, public information about available providers, increased accountability, among others. In addition, CHIPRA added the ability for states with separate CHIP plans to provide supplemental dental coverage to children that would otherwise be eligible for CHIP, but for their private medical coverage disqualified them from any CHIP coverage prior to the new CHIPRA law. This new child-only supplemental dental coverage allows families to maintain their private/employer-sponsored health insurance that may have limited or no dental coverage to enroll in CHIP supplemental dental coverage.

States that are debating whether to provide child-only supplemental dental coverage are likely to seek specific data to make that determination. The following information provides a framework for thinking through the options and requirements of the child-only supplemental dental coverage.