No health insurance policy or employee benefit plan which is delivered, renewed, issued for delivery, or otherwise contracted for in this state shall:

(1) Prevent any person who is a party to or beneficiary of any such health insurance policy or employee benefit plan from selecting the dentist of his choice to furnish the dental care services offered by said policy or plan or interfere with said selection provided the dentist is licensed to furnish such dental care services in this state;

Terms Used In Alabama Code 27-19A-3

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(2) Deny any dentist the right to participate as a contracting provider for such policy or plan provided the dentist is licensed to furnish the dental care services offered by said policy or plan;
(3) Authorize any person to regulate, interfere, or intervene in any manner in the diagnosis or treatment rendered by a dentist to his patient for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing dental illness or injury provided said dentist practices within the scope of his license; or
(4) Require that any dentist furnishing dental care services must make or obtain dental X rays or any other diagnostic aids for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing dental illness or injury; provided, however, that nothing herein shall prohibit requests for existing dental X rays or any other existing diagnostic aids for the purpose of determining benefits payable under a health insurance policy or employee benefit plan.

Nothing herein shall prohibit the predetermination of benefits for dental care expenses prior to treatment by the attending dentist.