Dental Insurance Plans & Programs

Dental Insurance Plans & Programs

Dental health is extremely important for individuals and families and it’s financially helpful to have some form of dental coverage to minimize the costs of dental care. There is a difference between traditional dental insurance plans and discount plans. Let’s first start out talking about dental insurance. It’s typically only available to individuals and families who receive their dental insurance coverage through large groups or through their employers. There is a premium that the employer pays to have their employees dental care covered. However, in today’s world many employers are cutting back the benefits they provide and therefore many people go to the Internet to seek out dental insurance plan alternatives. For an individual, a premium could cost you approx. $35 per month and give you basic coverage for exams, hygiene cleanings, root canals, orthodontics etc and depending on the insurance plan the maximum yearly spending limits can dramatically differ. You may also have to pay deductibles on top of your premiums. So whether your company is paying the premium, it’s shared or you are paying it all yourself, these are all factors that affect the bottom line cost of your dental care.

Dental insurance plans are also becoming increasingly unpopular with dental practices for a variety of reasons. For example you may have a great dental insurance plan that allows you to see any dentist. The problem is, not all dentists will accept the insurance claim forms as payment. They will have you pay up front and force you to collect from the insurance company. Many insurance companies will only pay X amount for different procedures. For a simple dental bonding the insurance company will pay a maximum amount, often far less than what the dentist would typically charge. If it’s far less than what the dentist charges you’ll have to make up the difference out of your own pocket or go see a dentist that’s willing to accept a low fee. Now, there are still many practices that are dental insurance plan based, there are just an increasing number of dentists that are trying to completely rid themselves of insurance dependence.

So how does a Discount dental plan differ from a traditional dental insurance plan? A dental plan is very similar to holding a membership in a buying club? You pay a flat fee yearly. These gives you access to the provider dentists. The discount dental plan negotiates a discounted rate for typical services like hygiene visits, exams, fillings, cleanings, root canals, orthodontics, crowns etc with the provider dentists. The dentists agree to provide these services to you at the pre-arranged discount rates which are often displayed prior to purchasing the reduced fee plan. They are ideal for individuals and their families who do not get dental insurance coverage through their employer. There are substantial savings that can be obtained through the provider networks in the range of 10 – 60 %. The one drawback can be the limitation of only being able to visit a provider dentist. However even traditional dental insurance can have similar limitations.

The content is general in nature and we will be explaining the different categories of dental insurance plans: P.P.O ( preferred provider organization ) H.M.O. ( health maintenance organization ) , direct re-imbursement and indemnity