Dental Insurance - Is It The Best Option For You And Your Family?

Whenever the average person thinks of dental insurance, they tend to think along the same lines of traditional health insurance, which these days couldn't be much more off base.

First off, it's difficult to even purchase a decent, affordable dental insurance plan unless you're part of a group plan or are able to purchase it through your place of employment.

In most cases, dental insurance doesn't provide as many benefits as you'd think.

For example, many different routine dental procedures such as cleanings, x-rays, fillings, ect, aren't even covered under traditional dental insurance unless the policy holder has been part of the plan for a predetermined period of time, usually 6-12 months. After this "waiting period" the insured can then have certain procedures performed, however they will still likely have to pay a deductable.

I many cases dentists will require the insured person to pay for their procedures in advance and then wait on the insurance company to reimburse them. This is similar to what spouses and children of disabled veterans must do while insured through "Champus" insurance.

Some of the reason(s) for this is because there are certain procedures that a person may not be covered for that would be considered to be "routine" by the dentist, but they may find out after the procedure is finished that it wasn't covered at all. Doesn't that sound silly? You'd be surprised how many times that this has actually happened.

This puts the dentist in the position of having to pursue the insured in order to be paid, and in many cases they may never see their money. After all, I'm not defending anyone that doesn't pay their bill, but the purpose behind insurance "coverage", is to pay the unexpected bills that come up and in many cases, these people just don't have the money to pay, at least not without making some type of payment arrangement, and then again, the dentist ends up waiting for payment.

This is why many dentists have now been placed in a "cash only" position in order to remain in business.

Many also have gone the route of accepting "Dental Discount Plans".

Dental discount plans are not insurance.

These are plans which can offer a substantial discount for dental care by paying cash at the time of the visit.

Example, let's say you have a tooth that's been bothering you and you've just joined a dental discount plan. You would be given a membership card, a list of participating dental providers in your area, and also a "fee schedule". A fee schedule tells you how much of a discount you'll receive from the dentist for each procedure performed. These will differ from plan to plan and also state to state. Be certain to find out what is covered and how much of a discount you'll be receiving in your state. Also make certain that there is a participating provider within a reasonable distance from you before purchasing the plan.

Example continued, alright, let's now say that the dentist needs an x-ray of your tooth to find out exactly what the problem is. After getting the results back he discovers that you have a cavity and need a basic filling. Let's say that the regular price for X-Rays was $90.00 and the regular cost of the filling was $80.00, but your discount card entitles you to receive a 50% discount on the work. In this case you'd only pay $85.00 instead of $170.00.

Remember that this is only an example, but do you understand now how this works?

These plans have become quite popular and are a fantastic alternative for anyone that's in need of dental care, but hasn't been able to qualify for traditional dental insurance through their employer because of their age or perhaps a pre-existing condition.

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Joe Stewart is an webmaster and former Life and Health Insurance agent. Feel free to drop by his website at www.Discount-Dental.net for more informative articles like this one or simply click on Dental Discount Plans .

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