Key Takeaways
- Ameritas sells individual dental plans in three tiers, and only the middle tier includes child orthodontic coverage. Ameritas describes its own lineup as a basic plan, a mid-range plan with child orthodontia benefits, and a top plan with a higher maximum plus hearing benefits (ameritas.com, 2026).
- That mid-range plan, PrimeStar Boost, pays 15% toward child braces in year one. The rate rises to 50% in year two, but it’s capped at a $1,000 lifetime maximum. Adult orthodontics isn’t offered on any Ameritas individual tier (covercapy.com, 2026).
- Ameritas holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. A very different picture shows up on Trustpilot, where it sits at 1.4 out of 5. Multiple reviews describe claims denied after a dentist’s office confirmed pre-authorization directly with Ameritas.
If you’re comparing dental insurance for a family that might need braces down the road, Ameritas dental insurance shows up in search results for a real reason. It’s one of the few individual carriers that builds child orthodontic coverage into a mid-tier plan, instead of selling it as a separate rider or leaving it out entirely. That’s a genuine differentiator. What the marketing pages don’t emphasize as clearly is how limited that coverage actually is, and what real customers say happens when they try to use it. Here’s what Ameritas actually offers a family, what it costs, and what the reviews reveal about collecting on a claim.
Does Ameritas Offer Dental Insurance Built for Families?
Yes, with a specific caveat worth knowing upfront. Ameritas sells three individual dental plan tiers. Its own description of the lineup: a basic plan for people with good oral health, plus a mid-range plan and a top-tier plan. The mid-range plan adds child orthodontia benefits. The top tier adds a higher annual maximum plus hearing benefits (ameritas.com, 2026). Only the middle tier includes orthodontic coverage at all. It’s marketed under the PrimeStar product family as PrimeStar Boost.
That matters because a family shopping by price alone might land on the cheapest Ameritas plan and assume braces are covered somewhere in the fine print. They aren’t, unless you specifically choose the tier built for it. Confirm the exact plan name and tier before enrolling. Ameritas sells dental through multiple marketplaces, and the naming isn’t always presented the same way twice.
Ameritas PrimeStar Plans: What Families Actually Get
PrimeStar Complete, the entry-level individual plan, runs about $60 a month. It carries a $50 per-person deductible, waived for in-network preventive care, and no waiting period on any service. Coverage activates the next business day (covercapy.com, 2026). It pays 100% of preventive care. Basic services like fillings start at 80% in year one, rising to 90% in year two. Major work like crowns starts at 20%, rising to 50% in year two. The annual maximum starts at $2,000 and climbs to $3,500. What Complete doesn’t include: any orthodontic coverage, for a child or an adult, and no teeth whitening.
PrimeStar Boost adds child orthodontic coverage on top of a similar structure. Ameritas doesn’t publish Boost’s exact deductible and annual maximum on the pages checked for this article. Treat those specific numbers as unconfirmed until you see your own quote. The table below summarizes what’s confirmed for each tier, and what isn’t.
| Plan | Monthly Premium | Deductible | Annual Maximum | Child Orthodontics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PrimeStar Complete | ~$60 | $50/person | $2,000 → $3,500 | Not covered |
| PrimeStar Boost | Not independently confirmed | Not independently confirmed | Not independently confirmed | 15% year 1 → 50% year 2, $1,000 lifetime max |
Ameritas’s full individual dental catalog is wider than these two PrimeStar tiers. eHealth’s marketplace data puts premiums across every Ameritas plan anywhere from $21.81 to $313.76 a month. The $21.81 low end belongs to a different product line entirely, Value FUSION Hybrid, not a PrimeStar plan, so don’t assume that figure applies to Boost or Complete. The network behind PrimeStar, Ameritas Classic PPO, covers more than 111,500 providers and 428,000 access points nationwide, independently corroborated across multiple broker listings (covercapy.com, 2026).
Child Orthodontic Coverage: The Real Numbers
The coinsurance jump from 15% to 50% sounds like a strong incentive to stay enrolled. It is, up to a point. The number that matters more for planning a family budget is the lifetime maximum: $1,000, total, for as long as you hold the policy. Full orthodontic treatment for a child commonly runs $3,000 to $7,000, depending on the case and the orthodontist. Even at the 50% year-two rate, a $1,000 lifetime cap means the plan stops paying long before the coinsurance percentage would suggest.
Do the math before assuming braces are “covered.” At 50% coinsurance on a $5,000 treatment plan, the raw percentage implies $2,500 in benefits. The $1,000 lifetime maximum caps it at $1,000 instead, whether that treatment happens in year two or year five. This is the same pattern already documented on this site for other carriers’ major-service caps. The percentage on the brochure and the actual dollar amount you’ll see are two different numbers. The cap is usually the one that decides your real out-of-pocket cost.
One more thing worth confirming directly with Ameritas before enrolling: whether the lifetime maximum applies per child or shared across all dependents on a family policy. That detail wasn’t confirmed for this article. It can meaningfully change the math for a family with more than one child likely to need braces.
How Much Does Ameritas Cost for a Family?
Ameritas doesn’t publish one simple family rate. PrimeStar Complete, the confirmed baseline plan, runs about $60 a month for an individual. Adding dependents raises that. The exact multi-dependent pricing for PrimeStar Boost specifically wasn’t independently confirmed at a single source for this article, only referenced in secondary summaries. Treat any family-tier number you see elsewhere as a starting point for your own quote, not a guarantee. Across Ameritas’s full individual dental lineup, including product lines outside PrimeStar like Value FUSION Hybrid, eHealth’s marketplace data shows a range of $21.81 to $313.76 a month, depending on plan, age, and state.
The practical takeaway: get quotes for your specific household size and ZIP code before comparing Ameritas against other family plans that cover braces on price. A wide published range like this one means the number that applies to your family could sit anywhere in it.
What Reviews Actually Say: The Pre-Authorization Problem
Ameritas holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and has been BBB accredited since 1948, a longer accreditation history than some competitors reviewed on this site. Taken alone, that looks like a strong trust signal. It tells a different story next to Ameritas’s rating on Trustpilot, where the company sits at 1.4 out of 5.
The complaints that show up repeatedly aren’t generic. Multiple reviewers describe a specific sequence. A dentist’s office calls Ameritas ahead of a procedure and gets verbal confirmation that a service is covered. The office performs the work. Ameritas denies the claim anyway. One case involved veneers confirmed twice by phone before the claim was refused. Another described an emergency root canal where the patient paid $1,870 out of pocket after Ameritas paid only $266 of the bill. Ameritas’s own policy states that it doesn’t require prior authorization for covered dental services, and that a pre-treatment estimate doesn’t guarantee payment or benefit eligibility. That language technically permits exactly this pattern.
For a family relying on the orthodontic benefit specifically, this is worth taking seriously. A $1,000 lifetime maximum is a small enough benefit that a single denied or reduced claim changes the math on whether the plan was worth buying at all. Get any coverage confirmation in writing, not just a phone call, before scheduling orthodontic treatment.
Is Ameritas Worth It for Your Family?
Ameritas is worth pricing out if a child in your family is likely to need braces. That’s especially true if you want that cost built into a dental plan rather than paid separately. PrimeStar Boost is a genuine, documented benefit that many family dental plans on this site don’t offer at all. Go in with realistic expectations about the $1,000 lifetime cap. Get pre-treatment estimates in writing, given the real complaint pattern around claim denials.
It’s a weaker fit if your family doesn’t need orthodontic coverage. PrimeStar Complete, the cheaper tier without orthodontics, covers the same preventive and basic-service ground as Boost without paying for a benefit you won’t use. Compare the premium difference between tiers directly against what you’d actually spend on braces out of pocket. That comparison tells you whether the pricier plan really pays for itself, or whether you’re better off with a simpler plan and a dedicated savings fund instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ameritas dental insurance cover braces for kids?
Only on PrimeStar Boost, its mid-tier individual plan. Coverage starts at 15% coinsurance in year one, rising to 50% in year two, capped at a $1,000 lifetime maximum. Ameritas doesn’t cover adult orthodontics on any individual tier.
How much does Ameritas dental insurance cost for a family?
Ameritas doesn’t publish one flat family rate. Individual Ameritas dental plans range from $21.81 to $313.76 a month depending on tier, age, and state (eHealth, 2026). PrimeStar Complete alone runs about $60 a month for one adult. Get a quote for your specific household before comparing plans.
Is Ameritas a good dental insurance company?
It depends which signal you weigh more. Ameritas holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, accredited since 1948. Its Trustpilot rating is 1.4 out of 5, with documented reviews describing claims denied even after phone pre-authorization. Get any coverage confirmation in writing before relying on it.
Bottom Line
Ameritas dental insurance earns its place in searches for families for one real reason: PrimeStar Boost includes child orthodontic coverage that many competitors don’t offer at all. The $1,000 lifetime maximum limits how much that benefit is actually worth. A documented pattern of claim denials after verbal pre-authorization means the plan deserves a cautious, in-writing approach, not blind trust in its BBB rating. For the full lineup of family dental options, see the dental insurance for families guide.
This article is for informational purposes only and doesn’t constitute insurance advice. Confirm current rates, plan tiers, and coverage details directly with Ameritas or a licensed insurance agent before enrolling.
