SB527

SB527 prevents covered health plans that already cover general anesthesia from excluding medically necessary general anesthesia for certain children’s dental treatment. The child must be younger than 13, unable to undergo the dental service without general anesthesia because of a documented physical, mental or medical reason, and treated by a qualified anesthesia provider. It does not require general anesthesia for every child or every dental visit. Coverage conditions.

The law expressly does not require coverage of the dental care or procedure itself. It addresses qualifying anesthesia coverage under a medical health plan, not a new blanket dental benefit. It also preserves Section 1360.005, which says dental coverage need not be added when not otherwise part of the plan and prohibits excluding from plan coverage an individual unable to undergo office-setting or local-anesthetic treatment for a documented reason determined by the physician or treating dentist. Dental-benefit limitation; Referenced Section 1360.005: official historical text.

The listed plans include regulated individual and group medical policies, HMOs, specified small-employer and standard plans, state-employee and public-education/university employee plans, regional or local programs and self-funded plans sponsored by professional employer organizations. This is a defined statutory list, not a claim that every self-funded employer plan or standalone dental policy is covered. Complete covered-plan list.

Signed June 20, 2025, the act took effect September 1, 2025, but the new requirement applies only to plans delivered, issued for delivery or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. Existing coverage is not necessarily changed on September 1 simply because that is the act’s effective date. Plan transition rule; History.