BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey’s Division of Insurance announced today that nine health and dental insurance carriers will return $14.5 million to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts consumers through rebates required under the state’s health and dental insurance laws. 8.4 Million went to Dental Rebates – for the first time in US History.
The dental insurance law that enabled these rebates were the result of a 2022 Massachusetts voter-ballot initiative (“Question 2”) authored and filed by Dr. Mouhab Rizkallah, a Massachusetts orthodontist, who was subsequently named the “Most Influential Person in Dentistry” (Incisal Edge Magazine) and “Person of the Year” (Dentistry Today). Dr. Rizkallah personally funded the first in history dental ballot question at a cost of $3.2 Million, and his ballot persuaded the ADA to add $5.5 Million in additional support.
According to Governor Healey, for the first time, Massachusetts is requiring dental insurance companies to issue rebates after failing to meet the state’s Dental Loss Ratio (DLR) standard, making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to require and enforce dental insurance rebates. Six dental insurance companies – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc., Guardian Life Insurance Company, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Insurance Company, Inc., Reliance Standard Insurance Company, Standard Insurance Company, and Starmount Life Insurance Company – will return $8.4 million to consumers enrolled in their dental plans. An additional $6.1 million will be returned by three health insurance companies – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Insurance Company, Inc., Massachusetts General Brigham Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company – to consumers covered by individual and small employer health plans.
Dr. Mouhab Rizkallah’s vision and advocacy has clearly enabled the Governor’s administration to make dental history for patients in Massachusetts. When asked what he thinks of the performance of Question 2 so far, Dr. Rizkallah said: “I am not at all satisfied, and there is much more to come. Keep watching.”
Source: based on Healey-Driscoll Administration Returns $14.5 Million to Health and Dental Insurance Consumers and Businesses / Mass.gov