Is a membership plan the same as insurance?

No. It is a direct agreement between the practice and the patient. Rules on how such plans may be described vary by state, so check locally before marketing one.

Can family members be added to one plan?

Yes. Add each family member as a separate plan on the same payer's card, or price a family tier.

What happens if a member's card fails?

The payment is retried, the member is emailed an update link, and the failure appears in your dashboard before their next appointment.

Dental practices

Dental membership plans: in-house cover that bills itself every month

Updated 10 September 2026 · 7 min read

A dental membership plan is an in-house alternative to insurance: the patient pays you monthly or annually and receives defined preventive care plus a discount on treatment. It works only if billing runs automatically. Enterprise Pay Gateway keeps members on recurring plans through your own Stripe account, handles renewals and failed cards, and shows the member list in your dashboard.

Why practices build their own plan

A large share of adult patients have no dental cover at all. For them the choice is not which insurer to use, it is whether to come in.

An in-house plan removes the insurer from the middle. You set the price, you keep the whole payment, and the patient gets a schedule they understand: two cleanings, exams and radiographs, plus a percentage off restorative work.

Pricing the plan

Start from your own cost of delivering the included preventive care, then set the annual price above it with the treatment discount funded by the additional case acceptance the plan produces.

Offer both monthly and annual billing. Monthly widens access; annual arrives as cash up front and carries only one transaction charge instead of twelve.

Renewals are where plans die

Manual renewal means someone re-keys a card once a year for every member. It never survives a busy quarter, and members quietly lapse.

Automatic renewal with an advance reminder email, retry on failure and a self-service card update link keeps the roster intact without adding front-desk work.

What dental payment software costs to run

Stripe charges its published processing fee on each member payment, billed directly to you. Enterprise Pay Gateway charges your monthly subscription plus a platform fee of 0.20%–0.75%, shown separately.

Enterprise Pay Gateway is software, not a bank, insurer or lender. A membership plan run on the platform is your own agreement with your patient.

Frequently asked

Is a membership plan the same as insurance?: No. It is a direct agreement between the practice and the patient. Rules on how such plans may be described vary by state, so check locally before marketing one.
Can family members be added to one plan?: Yes. Add each family member as a separate plan on the same payer's card, or price a family tier.
What happens if a member's card fails?: The payment is retried, the member is emailed an update link, and the failure appears in your dashboard before their next appointment.

Start taking payments for your dental practices

Create a free account, connect payments through Stripe, and take your first payment the same day. Enterprise Pay Gateway is software, not a bank or lender — Stripe processes payments under your own Stripe agreement and pays out to your bank.

Start free See pricing