Prohibits dental insurers from refusing to honor directions to pay from insured, modifying benefits to be paid. Requires providers to accept payment by virtual credit card as unfair claims practices.

Plain-English Summary

This Rhode Island bill makes changes to how dental insurance companies must handle payments to dentists and other dental care providers. Specifically, it would prohibit dental insurers from refusing to follow a patient's instructions about where or how their insurance benefits should be sent — for example, if a patient directs their insurer to pay their dentist directly, the insurer would be required to honor that request. It also prevents insurers from changing or reducing the amount of benefits being paid when processing those directed payments.

The bill also addresses a specific payment method called a "virtual credit card," which is a temporary, single-use card number that some insurers use to send payments to dental providers. Under this bill, dental providers (like dentists and their offices) would be required to accept virtual credit card payments from insurers. Refusing to do so would be considered an "unfair claims practice" under Rhode Island's insurance laws, meaning providers could face consequences for declining this payment method.

This bill affects three main groups: patients with dental insurance, dental providers (such as dentists and dental offices), and dental insurance companies. Patients would gain more control over how their benefits are directed. Dental providers would need to accept virtual credit card payments. Insurance companies would face new restrictions on how they can handle and process benefit payments.

The bill has been introduced and referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, where it will be reviewed before any further action is taken.