If you have dental insurance, there is a fair chance you are paying more than you need to.
There are cheaper ways to keep dental care affordable, and a discount dental plan is one of them. Compared with dental insurance, a discount plan usually costs less each month, and there is no deductible to work through before it does anything for you.
Here are the main reasons a dental plan is worth a look.
- Most dental insurance plans limit the number of procedures or appointments they will cover in a year. A discount plan has no annual limit, so you can use it as often as you need to.
- Your fee schedule is fixed for the length of the plan, so you know what a treatment will cost before you book it. Many plans also include savings on vision, hearing, prescriptions, telemedicine, smoking cessation and chiropractic care.
- Plans are backed by a large network of dentists, and you pay the reduced rate at the time of treatment rather than a premium spread across the whole year.
- Have a dental problem that already needs dealing with? Dental insurance will normally make you wait, often 12 months, before it pays anything towards it. A discount plan applies from the day it starts.
No Waiting Times
Imagine going to your dentist with a throbbing pain in your mouth and no idea what is causing it.
You expect your dental insurance to cover it, only to be told the policy has not been active long enough. That leaves you waiting anywhere from one to two years to qualify, or paying the full price yourself.
With a discount plan there is no waiting period. The reduced rate applies from the moment the plan starts, and you deal with the dentist directly.
No More Annual Maximums
Dental insurance comes with strings attached, and the most inconvenient is the annual maximum. That is the ceiling on what the insurer will contribute towards your treatment in a year. If you want a higher ceiling, you pay a higher monthly premium.
Routine checkups alone can eat through a good part of that ceiling, which leaves very little for anything else.
For example, this is the point at which you find out you need a root canal.
A root canal usually takes more than one appointment. The dentist removes the infected pulp from inside the tooth, cleans and shapes the root canals, then seals them. A crown is normally fitted afterwards to protect what is left of the tooth. The tooth itself stays in place. It is one of the more expensive treatments in general dentistry, and it is exactly the sort of bill an exhausted annual maximum leaves you holding.
A discount plan works differently. There is no annual ceiling to run out of, so the reduced rate still applies to the expensive work, whenever in the year you need it.
The Trouble with Dental Insurance
Dental insurance is built around annual limits, waiting periods, and a list of what it will and will not pay for. That is fine when your needs are light and predictable. It works far less well when you need major work, because the annual maximum is usually spent long before the bill is.
It also means the value of the policy depends on you needing enough treatment to justify twelve months of premiums, which is not a comfortable position to be in.
Why Bother with Dental Checkups at All?
Dental problems that get ignored do not stay small. They come back as pain, emergency appointments and time off work, and by then the treatment costs considerably more than the checkup that would have caught it.
A checkup also gives your dentist a look at your general health. A number of conditions show early signs in the mouth, which is one reason regular appointments are worth keeping.
The same applies to children, who lose school time to dental problems that a routine appointment would have picked up. Cost is a large part of why those appointments get skipped.
Time to Decide
If dental insurance is not earning its keep, a discount dental plan is the straightforward alternative.
- Plans are affordable, with no annual maximum and no deductible.
- Existing dental problems and urgent treatment are discounted from the start, with no waiting period.
- At Dental Plan Provider you can compare the plans available in your area, and you get an extra 10% off when you join online.
