Texas State Employee Dental Plan Switches To Humana On September 1, Here Is Everything Active Employees And Retirees Need To Know

Texas State Employee Dental Plan: More than a hundred thousand Texas state employees, retirees and their dependents are about to see a new name on their dental insurance card. The Employees Retirement System of Texas has confirmed that the Texas State Employee Dental Plan, formally known as the State of Texas Dental Choice PPO and Dental Health Maintenance Organization plans, will move from Delta Dental to Humana Dental starting September 1, 2026. The switch follows a decision by the ERS Board of Trustees in August 2025 to award Humana Dental a new six-year third-party administrator contract running through August 31, 2032, ending Delta Dental’s long run as the plan’s network manager and claims processor.

For most participants, the transition will not require any action at all. ERS has stressed that coverage will automatically carry over to Humana on September 1 for anyone currently enrolled, and the plan design itself, meaning covered services, copays and coinsurance, is staying the same because ERS continues to set those benefit terms directly rather than Humana. What is changing is the provider network and the administrative side of the plan, which means some participants, particularly those enrolled in the DHMO plan, will need to complete a few specific steps before the deadline to avoid a gap in coverage. We’ll be updating this article monthly as ERS and Humana release further enrollment guidance ahead of the transition date.

Latest Update On The Dental Plan Transition

As of this month, the transition timeline is fully in motion. Humana’s dedicated transition website, your.Humana.com/ERS, has been live since June 1, 2026, allowing both active employees and retirees to search for their current dentist and confirm whether that provider is already in Humana’s network. ERS has confirmed that because Humana’s network overlaps significantly with Delta Dental’s existing providers, most members are not expected to need a new dentist, though anyone who does can use Humana’s provider search tool to locate an in-network option in their area.

Summer Enrollment, which ran from July 13 through July 24, 2026, gave active employees and non-Medicare retirees their formal window to review the new plan details and make any changes, such as switching between the PPO and DHMO options or dropping dental coverage entirely, before the September 1 start date. Members enrolled in Medicare will instead make any changes during Fall Enrollment, and their new Humana coverage will not begin until January 1, 2027, a full four months after everyone else transitions. Beginning August 3, 2026, DHMO participants have been able to log into a new MyHumana account and formally designate their primary care dentist, a required step for every DHMO member even if the dentist they already see is part of Humana’s network.

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What Is Changing And What Is Staying The Same

The most important distinction for members to understand is the difference between who designs the Texas State Employee Dental Plan and who administers it. ERS, the state agency that runs the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program, continues to set the benefit structure for both the PPO and DHMO dental plans, meaning the services covered, the copayment amounts and the coinsurance percentages are not changing as a result of this switch. What is changing is the third-party administrator, the company responsible for managing the network of participating dentists, processing claims, running customer service and handling member communications, a role Delta Dental has held and is now passing to Humana Dental.

Because the administrator change affects the provider network directly, in-network status for any given dentist could shift even though the underlying plan benefits remain identical. ERS has been direct about this risk, noting that while Humana’s network already includes many of the same dental offices Delta Dental members are used to, individual providers should still be verified through the official search tool rather than assumed to have carried over automatically.

Texas State Employee Dental Plan Key Highlights

Steps Active Employees And Retirees Should Take

Even though re-enrollment is not required, ERS has outlined a short list of practical steps members should complete before the September 1 changeover to avoid any disruption in dental care. Checking whether a current dentist is already in Humana’s network is the first and most important step, since this determines whether a member needs to find a new provider before their next appointment. This can be done now through the your.Humana.com/ERS provider search tool.

DHMO participants carry an extra requirement that PPO members do not. Every DHMO member, regardless of whether they plan to keep seeing their current dentist, must formally designate a primary care dentist inside their MyHumana account, a process that became available starting August 3, 2026. Skipping this step could delay claims processing once the new plan takes effect, since the DHMO structure requires a designated primary provider to coordinate care.

Retirees should also pay close attention to which enrollment period applies to them. Non-Medicare retirees used the Summer Enrollment window in July to make any changes, while retirees enrolled in Medicare will use the separate Fall Enrollment period later in the year, and their transition to Humana coverage will not actually start until January 1, 2027, months after active employees and non-Medicare retirees move over.

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Claims And Customer Service During The Transition

Members with dental claims from the current plan year, which ERS defines as running from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026, should continue working with Delta Dental for those specific claims even after the new plan starts. Delta Dental has confirmed it will remain reachable through December 31, 2026 to help resolve claims tied to that earlier plan year, giving members a several-month overlap window to close out any outstanding paperwork with the outgoing administrator.

For anything related to the new plan year beginning September 1, 2026, Humana becomes the point of contact. Members can reach Humana’s customer service line for help with enrollment questions, network searches or claims once the new plan year begins, while active state employees with plan questions during the transition period should continue routing enrollment questions through their agency’s benefits coordinator, and Health and Human Services employees have a dedicated enrollment help line separate from the general ERS contact channels.

Why ERS Made This Change

Third-party administrator contracts for large state benefit plans are periodically put out for competitive bid, and the dental plan contract was one of several the ERS Board of Trustees reviewed during 2025. According to ERS, Humana Dental was selected because it offered a large, broad-access provider network while committing to administer the plans at the same benefit level members already have, allowing the agency to avoid disrupting coverage for the roughly hundred thousand-plus participants across both the PPO and DHMO plans. Because most ERS-administered plans, including the dental plan, are self-insured, meaning ERS itself pays claims out of premium contributions rather than Humana carrying the insurance risk, the switch is structured as an administrative services contract rather than an insurance policy change, which is part of why the underlying benefit design has stayed untouched through the transition.

Official Sources

FAQs About Texas State Employee Dental Plan

People Also Ask

Is the Texas State Employee Dental Plan changing insurance companies? Yes. The plan is switching third-party administrators from Delta Dental to Humana Dental beginning September 1, 2026, under a new six-year contract awarded by the ERS Board of Trustees.

How long is the new Humana dental contract with ERS? The contract runs six years, from September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2032.

Does the dental plan switch affect health insurance too? No. This transition applies specifically to the State of Texas Dental Choice PPO and DHMO plans. It does not change medical, vision or other benefits under the Texas Employees Group Benefits Program.

What happens if I do nothing before September 1? Most members do not need to take any action. Coverage transfers automatically, though DHMO participants specifically must still designate a primary care dentist to avoid claims delays.

Conclusion

The move from Delta Dental to Humana marks the biggest operational change to the Texas State Employee Dental Plan in years, but ERS has structured the transition so that benefits, copays and coverage levels remain untouched for the vast majority of the plan’s participants. Active employees and retirees who take a few minutes now to verify their dentist’s network status and, for DHMO members, designate a primary care dentist through MyHumana, should be able to move into the new plan year on September 1, 2026 without any disruption to their dental care. Anyone with lingering questions about the switch should reach out directly to ERS or Humana using the official contact channels rather than relying on secondhand information as the transition date approaches.

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