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Re: Senate Bill 444 Health Care Assessibility and Quality Asssurance Act

On behalf of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI1 ), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP2 ), and the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP3 ) thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on Senate Bill 444. We oppose this bill because, while it would not increase costs for insurers, it would increase costs for consumers by allowing dentists to charge higher fees for services.

Rhode Island’s existing NCS law was adopted in 2009 and prohibits a dental plan from requiring a dentist to accept a negotiated fee set by the plan unless the plan compensates the dentist for that specific service. The definition of “covered services” under current law is services that are reimbursable under the contract, subject to contractual limitations like deductibles, waiting periods, or frequency limitations. The law currently in effect in Rhode Island is consistent with the model law promulgated by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL). To date, 38 states have adopted NCS laws, with the overwhelming majority being consistent with the NCOIL Model.

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