What is the Oklahoma prompt-pay deadline for dental claims, and what interest applies to late payment?

Under 36 O.S. §1219, the Oklahoma payment deadline is 30 calendar days (electronic) and 45 calendar days (paper). Overdue payments bear simple interest at 10 percent per year (§1219(F)). Dental applicability: Section 1219 never uses the term "health benefit plan" and never names dental. 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.

Dental scope unsettled · Last verified 2026-08-30

Oklahoma prompt-pay law for dental claims

Oklahoma's prompt-pay statute never names dental, and its definitions do not settle whether it reaches a stand-alone dental carrier. The deadlines are below.

36 O.S. §1219

Read the statute text

Payment deadlines

Electronic claims: 30 calendar days (electronic)
Paper claims: 45 calendar days (paper)

Every insurer must reimburse all clean claims of an insured, an assignee of the insured, or a health care provider within 45 calendar days after receipt of a paper claim and 30 calendar days after receipt of an electronic claim (§1219(A)). Written notice of a defective claim is due within 30 days of receipt, and failure to send it is prima facie evidence that the claim will be paid under the policy terms; once corrected information arrives the 45- and 30-day clocks run again. A payment counts as made on the date of mailing, or delivery if not mailed.

Interest and penalties

Overdue payments bear simple interest at 10 percent per year (§1219(F)). Litigation over such a claim carries fee-shifting: the prevailing party recovers reasonable attorney fees (§1219(G)). The section does not apply to claims of the Oklahoma Life and Health or Property and Casualty Guaranty Associations.

Does it apply to dental? Dental scope unsettled

Section 1219 never uses the term "health benefit plan" and never names dental. Its reach comes from two broad definitions: an "accident and health insurance policy" is any policy providing accident and health insurance as defined in §703 — insurance against bodily injury, disablement, or death by accident, or the expense of it, or against disablement or expense resulting from sickness — plus any subscriber certificate or evidence of coverage issued by a health maintenance organization; and "insurer" is any entity providing such a policy, including licensed insurance companies, not-for-profit hospital service and medical indemnity corporations, HMOs, fraternal benefit societies, multiple employer welfare arrangements, and any other entity subject to regulation by the Insurance Commissioner. Dental expense insurance falls in only as a species of accident and health insurance — an inference, and stated here as one.

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.

Because this statute never names dental, whether it reaches your claim is unresolved. Treat anything below as the figure the statute would produce if it applies — read the applicability note above first.

Estimate the late-payment interest

Uses the verified Oklahoma rule (36 O.S. §1219). Estimate only — the statute's own accrual triggers control.

How the claim was submitted

Oklahoma sets a different deadline for each, so this decides which day the field below counts from.

Electronic— 30 calendar days (electronic)Paper— 45 calendar days (paper)

Claim amount (allowed)Interest statutes run on the payable claim amount, not billed charges.Days past the deadlineDays after the statutory deadline for a electronic claim (30 calendar days (electronic)), not days since submission.

Estimated interest

$10.48

10% per year (simple)

"An overdue payment shall bear simple interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per year" (§1219(F)). The 15% figure that circulates for Oklahoma is not in the statute.

How we calculate this

Formula: claim × 10% × days late ÷ 365, using simple (not compounded) interest as the statute states it. The rate and deadline come from 36 O.S. §1219, read against the statute text linked in the sources on this page (last verified 2026-08-30). Accrual start dates, clean-claim status, safe harbors, and plan funding all affect the real figure — treat this as an estimate for the payer conversation, not a demandable amount.

Nothing you type here leaves your browser — the results are computed locally on this page.

Also in the statute

An electronic rejection notice sent to the submitter through the EDI/HIPAA edit process satisfies the defect-notice duty (§1219(C)).
HMOs need not notify an insured, enrollee, subscriber, or assignee of defects — providers are not carved out of the notice duty (§1219(C)).
Related sections govern discounted reimbursement (§1219.3) and payment-method restrictions including virtual credit cards (§1219.6).
Last amended in 2021; the compilation read is current through the 2025 session.

Sources (statute text)

36 O.S. §1219 — Oklahoma Statutes Title 36 (Oklahoma Legislature compilation, pp. 288–290)