# Alaska prompt-pay law for dental claims

> What is the Alaska prompt-pay deadline for dental claims, and what interest applies to late payment? Read against the statute text (Alaska Stat. §21.36.495).

URL: https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/alaska

Last verified: 2026-08-30

Dentovio is an independent publisher, not a law firm, insurance department, or government agency. This page was drafted with AI assistance and read against the primary sources linked here, with a per-claim verification record — quote, statutory pinpoint, and the URL actually opened — behind every deadline, rate, and applicability verdict in all fifty-one jurisdictions. It has not been reviewed by a credentialed attorney or dental billing specialist. These pages summarize state prompt-pay statutes as read against the official sources on the date shown, focusing on how each statute treats dental claims. Statutes change and their application turns on plan type, contract status, and claim facts. Educational reference only — not legal advice; confirm current law with the state insurance department or a licensed attorney before acting on a specific claim.

## Direct answer

Under Alaska Stat. §21.36.495, the Alaska payment deadline is 30 calendar days (no format split). Interest accrues at 15 percent annually beginning the day after the deficiency notice was due and continues until the claim is paid (§21.36.495(c)). Dental applicability: Genuinely unsettled, and the common summary is wrong. A self-funded private-employer (ERISA) plan is generally beyond this statute's reach and runs on the federal claims-procedure clock instead — but that comes from the courts reading 29 U.S.C. § 1144, not from its text, and it is not categorical: a self-funded governmental or church plan is not an ERISA plan at all, § 1144(b)(6) leaves multiple employer welfare arrangements open to state insurance law, and nothing in § 1144 bars a state from reaching the third-party administrator or the network contract.

## Payment deadlines

- Electronic claims: 30 calendar days (no format split)
- Paper claims: 30 calendar days (no format split)

A health care insurer must pay or deny within 30 calendar days after it — or a third-party administrator under contract with it — receives a clean claim, whether or not the treating provider participates. The statute draws no electronic-versus-paper distinction. If the insurer sends a timely deficiency notice, it must pay within 15 calendar days after receiving the requested information or 30 days after receiving the claim. Miss the deficiency notice and the claim is presumed clean. A claim counts as paid on the day payment is mailed or transmitted electronically, not the day it arrives.

## Interest and penalties on late payment

Interest accrues at 15 percent annually beginning the day after the deficiency notice was due and continues until the claim is paid (§21.36.495(c)). The insurer owes nothing when the interest works out to $1 or less (subsection (h)), interest accrues only on the covered portion of a partially covered claim (subsection (e)), and accrued interest may not be charged against the policy's benefit limits (subsection (g)). The statute never uses the word "automatic" — it simply imposes the duty without requiring a request.

## Does it apply to dental? Dental scope unsettled

Genuinely unsettled, and the common summary is wrong. The excepted-benefits carve-out that supposedly removes stand-alone dental attaches to the defined term "health care insurance plan" (AS 21.54.500(15)) — a term §21.36.495 never uses. The section applies to a "health care insurer" paying indemnities under a health care insurance policy, and that definition (AS 21.54.500(16)) contains no excepted-benefits exclusion. Cutting the other way, AS 21.12.050(a)(5) defines health insurance to include insurance for dental care. Treat the reach of the section over a dental-only carrier as an open question for the Division of Insurance, not as settled law in either direction.

## Self-funded (ERISA) plans

A self-funded private-employer (ERISA) dental plan is generally beyond a state prompt-pay statute's reach: 29 U.S.C. § 1144(b)(2)(B) bars a state from deeming such a plan an insurer, and the courts have read that to keep state insurance regulation off it. The statute itself never uses the words self-funded or prompt pay, and the rule is not categorical — a self-funded governmental or church plan is not an ERISA plan at all, so state law can reach it; § 1144(b)(6) leaves multiple employer welfare arrangements open to state insurance law; and nothing in § 1144 addresses state enforcement against the third-party administrator or the network contract. Where the plan is a self-funded ERISA group health plan, the federal claims-procedure deadlines apply instead: a post-service benefit determination within 30 days (one 15-day extension), at least 180 days to appeal, and an appeal decision within 60 days (or two 30-day levels), under 29 CFR 2560.503-1.

## Also in the statute

- A clean claim is one with no defect, impropriety, missing substantiating documentation, or circumstance requiring special treatment that prevents timely payment (§21.36.495(i)(1)).
- The deficiency notice goes to the covered person, and to the provider only where the claim was assigned or direct payment was elected — so a dental office may never see it on an unassigned claim.
- Receipt by a contracted third-party administrator starts the 30-day clock, but the payment duty stays on the insurer.

## Sources (statute text)

- [Alaska Stat. §21.36.495 — Alaska Statutes 2025 (official print view)](https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=21.36.495&secEnd=21.36.495)
- [Alaska Stat. §21.54.500 — definitions the section does and does not use](https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=21.54.500&secEnd=21.54.500)
- [Alaska Stat. §21.54.160 — excepted benefits, including limited-scope dental](https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=21.54.160&secEnd=21.54.160)

## Related

- [All state prompt-pay pages](https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/index.html.md)
- [Dental claim denial codes](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/index.html.md)
- [Payer documentation requirements](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-documentation/index.html.md)