If you have dental insurance, chances are you could be overspending.
There are various cost-effective alternative options that are much cheaper and still get the job done. One such alternative is dental plans. If you’ve never heard of dental plans, then it’s time you did. Here are five reasons dental plans are a good option.
Your monthly payment fees are quite affordable, starting from $10 per month or $110 annually depending on the type of dental plan. In comparison, dental insurance costs around $40 to $80 per month for individuals. And the best part? You won’t have to pay any deductible. Zilch.
- Most dental insurance plans place a limit on the range of proceedings or dental sessions. For example, you can only get oral checkups around four times a year. But with individual dental plans, there is no limit at all.
- Your fee schedule remains fixed throughout the course of your individual dental plan. This is because you know beforehand the price of your services, allowing you to plan accordingly. It is common for most dental plans to offer additional benefits such as hearing, vision, prescription drugs, telemedicine, smoking cessation, chiropractic care, and more. You get the best of both worlds.
- A quick online search on Google shows a large network of reputable dentists who are willing to clean your teeth for a small fraction of what you would otherwise pay in dental premium throughout the year.
- Have a pre-existing dental condition that needs to be taken care of? Your dental insurance most likely requires you to stay active for a minimum of 12 months before it could cover these expenses.
Dental Plan Options
No Waiting Times
Just imagine having to go to your dentist with a throbbing pain in your mouth without a clue in the world what could be causing it.
You believe your dental insurance will come to the rescue, only to be told that your insurance plan hasn’t been active enough to cover the treatment. This means you will have to wait anywhere from 1 to 2 years to qualify. The other alternative is to pay the full price for the procedure, and this can be a major inconvenience if the cost of treatment is sufficiently high.
With dental plans, you don’t have to deal with long waiting periods. Your services begin immediately. You can enjoy instant coverage and instant use, without any agents.
No More Annual Maximums
Dental insurance plans come with various strings attached, the most inconvenient of them is a little term known as an “annual maximum.” This term stands for the maximum amount a dental insurance plan will contribute towards the cost of your dental procedure on an annual basis. These annuals can cost anywhere from $200 to $500 per year. If you want to sign up for higher annual maximums, you will have to pay larger monthly premiums.
Common sense (and experience) will tell you that most annual checkups will easily eat up the annual maximums. This leaves little room to have any extra dental procedures done.
For example: the average cost of porcelain crowns is between $1000 and $1500. There goes your annual maximum! What happens if you’ve exhausted your annual maximums? You will then have to pay the remaining bill out of your pocket for the remainder of the year. The last thing you need at this point is to get root canal done.
Root canal is more complicated because it requires at least two procedures to fix your teeth. Your teeth are uprooted down to the nerve, with all decaying roots being pulled out. The open cavity is then treated and properly filled. The next procedure involves the use of at least one crown to replace your missing teeth. This isn’t the case with individual dental plans because your treatment will begin immediately.
The best way to prevent paying excruciatingly high out-of-pocket bills is to sign up for individual dental plans. This allows you to pay for most dental procedures that boost your overall oral health. Most dental insurance plans cover regular checkups, and their benefits far outweigh their costs.
The Pitfalls of Dental Insurance
Most dentists operate with a very profit-centric mindset and want to squeeze every penny out of insurance agencies. This means there is a high chance that a dentist has recommended expensive treatment plans that really aren’t needed. In fact, it is has become quite common for dentists to intimidate their patients into signing up for dental procedures that add no value to their oral health.
Why Should You Bother with Dental Checkups At All?
Statistics will show you that employees lose more than 164 million hours on average due to dental problems. These same dental problems, which remain little more than an afterthought, return to haunt patients with full-blown pain. This leads to loss of productivity at work and millions of dollars in lost revenue for companies.
Dental checkups are important for one more reason: they provide a brief glimpse into a patient’s overall health. In fact, research shows that at least 90 percent of all systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes manifest as oral health symptoms.
Your children’s dental health can play a huge role in their academics. According to a survey by the US Department of Health and Human Services, children lost more than 51 million school hours due to dental problems that could have been prevented with regular dental checkups. Since premiums for dental insurance tend to be so expensive, at least one in five children under the age of 18 misses out on dental care every year.
Time to Decide
Now that you know how there is a better alternative to dental insurance plans, it’s time you signed up for dental discount plans.
- These plans are affordable with zero strings attached.
- They cover both pre-existing conditions and urgent dental care without the condition of long waiting periods.
- At Dental Plan Provider, you get the best range of dental plans. Sign up today to receive an additional 10% off.
