New Massachusetts Dental Law Takes Effect January 1, 2024

You asked for it. You got it.

Question 2 on the 2022 Massachusetts statewide ballot was overwhelmingly approved by voters and will take effect on January 1, 2024. The new law gives teeth to new state dental policy.

Question 2, "A Law Relative to Regulation of Dental Insurance," was the most popular question on the 2022 state ballot, receiving 76.1 percent of the votes cast in the election.

Question 2 was signed into law by Secretary of State William Galvin last year.

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Springfield's WWLP reports, "This new law will regulate dental insurance rates, requiring companies to spend at least 83 percent of premiums on members dental expenses and quality improvements, instead of using it for administrative expenses."

Question 2, now known as Chapter 287 of the Acts of 2022, takes effect January 1, 2024. According to the station, "This law is the first of its kind in the nation."

Question 2 received 1,673,755 (71.5 percent) "Yes" votes on the 2022 statewide ballot and only 668,569 (28.5 percent) "No" votes. By a much narrower margin, Massachusetts voters in 2022 also approved an income tax surcharge amendment and an amendment allowing some illegal aliens to obtain a limited driver's license.

Following the passage of Massachusetts Question 2, American Dental Association (ADA) President George Shepley said, "What you've done in Massachusetts has set the stage for the rest of the country."

According to the ADA's website, Question 2 also requires "dental benefit companies to disclose their projected medical loss ratio for dental plans, file the following year's group product base rates by July, and release other specified financial information."

The new law also requires the commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Insurance to approve or disapprove of any product rates.