Monday, May 17, 2010

Does individual dental insurance make dental work cheaper?

i need to have 3 wisdom teeth removed, about 4 root canals 1 or 2 extractions and some filling. would individual dental insurance really help me save any money or am i better off financing through a dentist office and getting a discount plan?

Does individual dental insurance make dental work cheaper?
This is actually a difficult question to answer. There are so many different types of plans that it is hard to say. If this is private insurance, which you would be paying for yourself, usually insurance companies have a waiting period for major procedures, and possibly a waiting period for basic services. Insurance plans have a maximum that they allow per year, usually between $1,000 - $2,000 dollars depending on the plan. It sounds like with the amount of treatment you need done, that the maximum will be met before you get everything you need treated completed. Once the maximum for the year is met, everything there after is your responsiblity to pay, and you still have the monthly premiums to pay. Also ins. comp. have their usual and customary rates ( this means that they have a set rate for which they will pay for each procedure), anything above that will be the patients responsibility. So if you have a extraction that costs $250, and they ony allow $175, you still will be responsible for the remaining balance, on top of your insurance premium for the month. (Unless you have a plan that the dentist is a preferred provider for.)If the the cost of the premium of the insurance outweighs the benefits that you will use, then I would skip the insurance and pay out of pocket. You will need to research what benefits you will get out of the plans you are interested in, and weigh the benefits. I hope this helps.
Reply:The dental insurance is the cheapest route for me. What you are talking about is very costly. If a dentist told you that you needed all that work I would recommend getting a second opinion.
Reply:If you go ahead and buy dental insurance now, it will not help you much because of the waiting periods. You will waste your money. However, a good dental plan will still help you. If you still need financing after discounts, sure, that could make sense as well.


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