We would like to share another exciting win for WSDA’s dental benefits reform efforts on behalf of dentists and the patients you serve. The Association’s bill,  Substitute Senate Bill 5351, passed the Washington State Senate on Monday, March 10 with a unanimous vote of 49-0! This is a key step in the legislative process, and the bill now moves on for consideration in the House of Representatives. You can watch footage of the vote and accompanying remarks beginning at 32:30 in this TVW video.

As we have previously shared, SSB 5351 makes meaningful progress on all four of the major policy issues we proposed in our original legislation, including:

• Prohibiting same-day denials
• Restricting virtual credit card payment requirements
• Requiring a mediation process to address the major issues of establishing a dental loss ratio threshold and creating non-network reimbursement fairness

Senate passage is a major accomplishment — and the unanimous yes vote gives our bill strong momentum — but there is more work still to be done. Please be on the lookout for future action alerts to contact House members at key points in their deliberations. Thank you for your ongoing engagement with legislators in support of our fight for better dental benefits on behalf of Washington patients.