Starting January 1 of next year, California Assembly Bill 1629 (AB 1629) will require dental plans to honor patient benefit assignments, meaning clinicians can directly receive payment in lieu of charging patients for the full cost of their treatment upfront. 

Under this bill, dental plans will now pay out-of-network dentists directly and must ensure patients are educated about their dentist’s network status and potential financial responsibility before treatment. AB 1629 is a response to the growing issue of narrowing of dental plan networks caused by stagnant or reduced reimbursements.¹

How assignment of benefits (AOB) works 

Under an assignment of benefits, a dental patient authorizes their insurance company to send claim payments directly to their provider. The dental front office submits this claim on behalf of the patient, and the insurance pays the reimbursement directly to the dentist. The patient is then responsible for any remaining balance, such as a copay or deductible. However, there are a few key problems with this system.²

Some plans will not honor AOB requests and mail checks directly to the patient instead of the dental office. According to the ADA, “It has been reported that patients simply cash the checks and subsequently do not pay their dental bills.” Thus, if dental offices are never made aware of an insurance company mailed their check, there is no real way to close out that balance without writing it off, sending the patient to collection, or leaving it on the books as an aging debt.

Dentists may also not receive a copy of the explanation of benefits (EOB) when payments are sent to the patient. This means the dental office is unaware of whether a claim was processed, reduced, or denied. Without an EOB, dental front office staff may not be able to break down payment allocation—including how the insurance company calculated the fee, applied deductibles, or structured co-insurance. Patients may also be confused by EOB language and therefore put a strain on the patient-provider relationship.³

As previously mentioned, in states where out-of-network dentists are not allowed to use AOB, patients can face additional financial burdens. This can be significantly challenging for those who are low-income or underinsured. If, for example, a patient cannot afford their outstanding balance for a dental visit up-front—even if they will receive a check for this payment later—they would not be able to get dental care at all. This added stress can lead to dental neglect—not because patients don’t want to take care of their oral health, but because they cannot afford to do so. 

Eliminating barriers to patient care  

The CDA’s new bill is part of a larger campaign called Fix Our Dental Insurance, whose aim is to expose coverage gaps in current dental insurance plans and provide patients with more transparency. AB 1629 is the twelfth CDA-backed bill signed into law designed to better understand how payment is tracked through dental insurance plans. 

In an article from the CDA’s website, California Assemblymember Matt Haney commented on this victory, saying: “Families who rely on Medi-Cal should not lose ground, and families who pay for private dental coverage should not be forced to act like a bank for their insurance company just to see a dentist. If you pay for coverage, you should be able to use it.” 

According to the CDA, AB 1629 will also require insurers to report provider network information for all the plans that they sell. 

This bill in relation to ERISA plans

Plans falling under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) via Delta Dental to be exempt from this bill. On the CDA’s Facebook page announcing AB 1629, they noted that Delta has enrollees in both state regulated and ERISA (federally regulated) products—and that California law can't regulate ERISA products. 

The CDA said: “If Delta continues to refuse to pay OON dentist directly when the patient has a federally regulated plan, dentists will want to be clear about which type of plan their patient has. That information needs to be provided by the plan under a law CDA-sponsored in 2023. This information should be on the patient's insurance card, available on the online portal, and a plan must tell you if your office calls to ask.” 

State-regulated plans differ from ERISA plans because they are fully insured and are purchased from an insurance carrier that pays claims and must follow state insurance laws. ERISA plans, which are self-funded, are backed directly by an employer who pays the claims and are governed exclusively by federal law under ERISA. 

According to the ADA, “Some carriers administering ERISA plans argue that since ERISA is a federal law, it supersedes, or ‘preempts’ state insurance laws that protect patients.” This means, for example, if state legislature passes a law to fix an insurance issue, self-funded plans can claim ERISA preemption to avoid compliance with said law.⁴

References: 

1. Governor signs CDA-sponsored bill on assignment of benefits, network adequacy standards. California Dental Association. September 28, 2026. https://www.cda.org/newsroom/dental-plan-reform/governor-signs-cda-sponsored-bill-on-assignment-of-benefits-network-adequacy-standards/  

2. Assignment of benefits. American Dental Association. https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/practice/dental-insurance/ada_assignment_of_benefits_guide.pdf?rev=4aa9004cf3184b0995513a2d8d87d5b1&hash=0B2A63027B5D1F93AB2DA9AC6B7B8F47  

3. Third party issue tracker. American Dental Association. https://www.ada.org/resources/practice/dental-insurance/third-party-issue-checker 

4. California Dental Association. Facebook. September 28, 2026. https://www.facebook.com/cdadentists/posts/gov-newsom-has-signed-cda-sponsored-ab-1629-in-a-significant-win-for-dental-insu/1517483713740754/