SPRINGFIELD – For years in Illinois, dental insurance companies were allowed to only reimburse patients for dental visits, requiring working Illinoisans to pay the cost of a visit in the office and wait for a check reimbursing them for weeks or months. Thanks to a law led by State Senator Javier Loera Cervantes, patients will no longer have to worry about footing the bill, and insurers will be required to pay for these visits to providers directly.

“Illinoisans shouldn’t have to be the middle man between insurance companies and dental providers,”
 said Cervantes (D-Chicago). “With this new legislation, patients will no longer have to play this role, and can go to the dentist without fear that they will have to foot the bill and wait for a check to cover the costs weeks from then.”   

Without this law, dental insurance carriers are only required to cover the cost of the visit — but it is unspecified if they need to pay the providers directly, or just reimburse the patient for their visit. This means many insurance plans do not immediately pay for a patient’s treatment, leaving them to cover the bill after the visit, only to reimburse them months later.

To reduce the financial burden this places on patients, Senate Bill 1392 requires insurance companies to send payments directly to dental providers when the patient requests.

“Under the previous system, many factors could go wrong and make patients unable to get the dental care they are entitled to through their insurance, like if their check was lost in the mail and they do not have the funds for the appointment without it,” said Cervantes. “This law eliminates these issues, ensuring patients with insurance will have their appointments covered and paid for through correspondence with the dentist, not with them as a go-between.”  

Senate Bill 1392 takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.