NADP Research Reveals Record in Dental Coverage for Americans

Nearly 300 million, 88% of the Population, Enrolled in Dental Benefits in 2022

DALLAS — At year-end 2022, a record 293 million Americans had dental coverage according to the 2023 Benefits Report: Enrollment, recently published by the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP).

The latest NADP research shows that 88 percent of the population have dental coverage, including Americans receiving benefits through employer-sponsored or other group plans, individual plans, or public benefits. Enrollment in publicly funded benefits increased significantly, up 22.4 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. However, enrollment in commercial dental benefits was flat compared to 2021.

NOTE: Due to the availability of complete federal data on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment for 2017, the total for 2016 uses a different methodology than prior years. In 2017, NADP analysis of Medicare Landscape files resulted in an increase of about 5 million Medicare lives for this report.

About Publicly Funded Benefits

The rapid growth in publicly funded benefits can partly be explained by the effects of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) in place through the first half of 2022. Under the PHE, states were not permitted to redetermine the eligibility of eligible individuals in prior years. As a result, many Medicaid beneficiaries remained eligible for Medicaid when, in a pre-PHE environment, some of these people would have been deemed ineligible. This increased the number of people eligible to receive Medicaid benefits. Because PHE ended in 2022, it is reasonable to expect Medicaid eligibility and enrollment to decline as more states review the eligibility of Medicaid recipients.

• In addition, Medicare Advantage enrollment is estimated at 21.8 million in 2022, an increase of 1.6 percent, based on an analysis of the Medicare Landscape files from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). NADP methodology only counts Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with dental coverage in at least two categories of benefit defined by CMS.

“NADP is encouraged by the growth in dental benefits enrollment. Our research library indicates dental coverage contributes to good oral and overall health because individuals with dental benefits see their dentists more often.  We hope this trend in market growth continues,” remarked NADP Executive Director Mike Adelberg.

About Commercial Benefits

DPPO products are the dominant dental products in the commercial market with 86 percent of total enrollment in commercial dental plans. About 61 percent of all commercial group dental benefits are Employer-sponsored, and the other 39 percent are voluntary benefits. About 5.8 percent of the population with commercial dental benefits has coverage through Individual policies and products.

Less than two percent of commercial dental benefits are integrated with medical policies. Nearly half of group dental benefits, 45 percent, are self-insured.

About the Report

The NADP Enrollment Report provides information about the prevalence of dental benefits in the United States population. Data is presented on product types, including enrollment in private DHMO plans, DEPO/DINO plans, DPPO plans, Dental Indemnity plans, Dental Savings/Discount Dental Plans, and publicly funded plans, including Medicaid, CHIP, and Medicare Advantage plans at the national and state level. NADP has been collecting this information since 1994 and the findings in this report draw on this history.

About NADP

NADP is the largest non-profit trade association focused exclusively on the dental benefits industry. NADP members provide dental HMO, dental PPO, dental indemnity, and dental savings plan products to more than 200 million Americans with dental benefits. NADP members include the entire spectrum of dental carriers: companies that provide both medical and dental coverage, companies that provide only dental coverage, major national carriers, regional and single-state companies, as well as companies organized as non-profit plans.