OT - Dental Insurance

[ColtCrazy]

My wife needs some intensive work done on her teeth (her parents were poor..dentists weren't an option apparently) and it will cost a fair amount. Does anyone know of a really good dental plan? My school has great insurance for health, but the dental plan leaves a lot to be desired once you get past basic cleaning.

[MikeVic]

Springfield Power Plant.

[MacroGuru]

My wife needs some intensive work done on her teeth (her parents were poor..dentists weren't an option apparently) and it will cost a fair amount. Does anyone know of a really good dental plan? My school has great insurance for health, but the dental plan leaves a lot to be desired once you get past basic cleaning.

The best of most Dental Plans pay 50%, and also have a waiting period for major work, and that is generally a year.

If you are looking for supplimental and looking to keep it cheap, AFLAC has one as well, but again a year waiting period for major work.

[Eaglesfan27]

Every dental plan I've ever seen is lacking. The ones that are offered at my work are so bad, that I just pay out of pocket when I need work (had some extensive work done last year.) The best ones at our work have a maximum benefit of 2,000 per year, but they cost that much in annual deductions on the part of the employee.

[flere-imsaho]

My company's dental is through Guardian, but since I have (knock on wood) very good teeth, it doesn't really matter to me.

I know that sometimes, if the work to be done is extreme, dental can be covered under health if it's in fact a health risk. You would probably need a referral from your primary care physician.

[hukarez]

I know I've got to go in to get some work done, especially since one of my fillings got knocked loose eating a steak back in March - of last year.

Since then, I've been chewing on my left side, and my right side's been left alone, which has always been awkward. One of the main reasons being that I got laid off back in March of last year, and just did not have the funds to see a dentist - especially since my previous job did not have a dental plan.

Now, having been at my new job for about a year (as of tomorrow, actually) with a dental plan, I'd probably have to side with Eaglesfan27 about the plans. Some of my co-workers were complaining about the plan itself (First Dental here, I think) and I'm not positive what the percentages are for coverage from basic, to recommend, to required, etc...

Well. One thing's for sure: that steak was damn good.

[Lathum]

do you have access to a flex spending plan?

[Eaglesfan27]

do you have access to a flex spending plan?

That I do have at work and find very useful, much moreso than the Dental Plans.

[ColtCrazy]

Every dental plan I've ever seen is lacking. The ones that are offered at my work are so bad, that I just pay out of pocket when I need work (had some extensive work done last year.) The best ones at our work have a maximum benefit of 2,000 per year, but they cost that much in annual deductions on the part of the employee.


The more I look, the more I find this to be true. Our yearly max is $1000 right now. Maybe my wife needs to prioritize which teeth are most important to her. :D I agree about the premiums, why pay $1500 a year in premiums when the max payout is nearly the same.

I'm looking at Compdent right now, it says their out of network coverage on major procedures is the same as in network. I'll have to find out how that works, but it will at least let us switch to a dentist in town that will take a payment plan.

How's a flex spending plan work?

Thanks all for the help.

[Eaglesfan27]

Flex Health Spending Plans let you take money pre-tax and put it toward health care related expenditures - that can include co-pays, dental work, other health payments, prescriptions, and other specified items from pharmacies. The downside to most (all?) of them, is that if you don't spend the money in a year, you lose it. I think some are starting to allow roll-overs. In my case, it doesn't yet, so if I have extra money (you determine how much you want to put in, but most plans have a max), I make sure I spend the excess on the fairly wide list of accepted items from a pharmacy that are useful to stock up on.

Edit: At least the one that I use, you have to specify the annual amount every April.

[DanGarion]

My wife just had 4000 in periodontal work done and even with our good dental plan through work we are still out 2150 of our own cash.

She's getting the bottom teeth done next year, I'm going to open up the FSA that my company has so we get the tax breaks on that money next year.

[DanGarion]

Oh and that's not counting the additional 1500 for the anesthesiologist...

[oliegirl]

Flex Health Spending Plans let you take money pre-tax and put it toward health care related expenditures - that can include co-pays, dental work, other health payments, prescriptions, and other specified items from pharmacies. The downside to most (all?) of them, is that if you don't spend the money in a year, you lose it. I think some are starting to allow roll-overs. In my case, it doesn't yet, so if I have extra money (you determine how much you want to put in, but most plans have a max), I make sure I spend the excess on the fairly wide list of accepted items from a pharmacy that are useful to stock up on.

Edit: At least the one that I use, you have to specify the annual amount every April.

I will second the benefit of an FSA...the one I was in had a debit card attached to it, and I had access to my entire yearly deduction right from the start. I was able to use it for copays, prescriptions, contact lenses and "everyday" drug store items like tylenol, toothpaste and toothbrush, saline, etc...it was great. If it was an over the counter purchase, I would have to send in the receipt substantiating the purchase as FSA approved, but that was a small price to pay for the convenience it gave me. My husbands company doesn't offer it, and I'm really bummed out. I loved it.

[Logan]

As part of my benefit package, I get $1000 put into a flex account. I cash it out (and pay tax on it) because I don't have contacts, don't have kids, etc so there's no way I'd run through it. But people at work love it and get a ton of value on it.

[Ironhead]

I spend about 8 hours a day pricing it so that my company makes money off your company.

I honestly couldn't tell you much about the marketplace for individual dental insurance though. You will likely pay an arm and a leg for it and have long waiting periods for services. The general assumption is that you are purchasing it with the full intent of using just about every last drop of it's benefit. Not sure if they exist on the individual market but you might want to look into purchasing a DHMO (Dental Health Maintenance Organization) plan. DHMO plans should be affordable and generally do not have annual limits or waiting periods. The big drawback is that you will only have your claims paid if you visit a dentist the insurance company has an agreement with. Many times the list of dentists is small and there can be long waits (months) simply to see the dentist.

[Buccaneer]

We've been on an employee play that paid for 50% of such work and when my wife had her 4 crowns, we just worked out with the dentist office on low monthly payments.

[Marc Vaughan]

Emigrate to England for a while - Women get their dental free (everything) for a year after they give birth and the rest of the time its a nominal amount on the NHS anyway (compared to what you have to pay for dental care in Florida anyway).

Yes I'm missing the days where when my family was ill all I worried about was them getting better rather than the bills .... not least because my wife told me how much my daughters braces were going to cost recently ... wow .... we've owned cars which haven't cost that much.

[Buccaneer]

Emigrate to England for a while - Women get their dental free (everything) for a year after they give birth and the rest of the time its a nominal amount on the NHS anyway (compared to what you have to pay for dental care in Florida anyway).

Yes I'm missing the days where when my family was ill all I worried about was them getting better rather than the bills .... not least because my wife told me how much my daughters braces were going to cost recently ... wow .... we've owned cars which haven't cost that much.

Probably not a good point since we've all seen those British teeth. :lol:

[Marc Vaughan]

Probably not a good point since we've all seen those British teeth. :lol:

LOL - I remember the 'Big book of British smils' on the Simpsons :D

On a more serious note one of the things my wife has been working hard to convince me on is that my daughter actually needs braces - cosmetic dentistry isn't half as common in England as in America.

Simply put or whatever reason in England its the 'norm' to have imperfect teeth so long as they're healthy, which is fine my me ..... I don't really get why its so common in America to sculpt teeth so they look 'perfect'.

[Galaxy]

LOL - I remember the 'Big book of British smils' on the Simpsons :D

On a more serious note one of the things my wife has been working hard to convince me on is that my daughter actually needs braces - cosmetic dentistry isn't half as common in England as in America.

Simply put or whatever reason in England its the 'norm' to have imperfect teeth so long as they're healthy, which is fine my me ..... I don't really get why its so common in America to sculpt teeth so they look 'perfect'.

Plastic surgery is huge. It's not just teeth.

[Drake]

Oof. I just dropped $8k on dental work for my wife last weekend. My dental insurance covered $1k, which maxed out her benefit for the year.

I got more benefit out of the dentist. He accidentally cut her with one of his instruments while she was unconscious (all day sedation dentistry for teh win!) and felt so badly about it, he cut us a 30% break. Granted, this was probably to keep us from suing him, but since I'm not really a litigious guy over honest accidents, I'll take it and be happy.

[DanGarion]

Emigrate to England for a while - Women get their dental free (everything) for a year after they give birth and the rest of the time its a nominal amount on the NHS anyway (compared to what you have to pay for dental care in Florida anyway).

Yes I'm missing the days where when my family was ill all I worried about was them getting better rather than the bills .... not least because my wife told me how much my daughters braces were going to cost recently ... wow .... we've owned cars which haven't cost that much.
Too bad they have to wait 2 years for run of the mill knee replacement surgeries... :)

[Marc Vaughan]

Too bad they have to wait 2 years for run of the mill knee replacement surgeries... :)

Depends on the county your in as to whether there's a waiting list for a particular operation, also do bear in mind you always have the option to "Go Private" and pay or have it done by a health scheme if you have one (which are MUCH cheaper in the Uk than in America because most people don't bother with them for minor issues and use the NHS for most things, thus the cost to the health care companies is a fraction of what it is for an American to be covered ... so much so that a lot of the companies have started giving away stuff like 'free gym membership' with their policies because people tend to drop them due to not using them after a while).

PS - You'll have to bear with me, I'm somewhat passionate about the NHS ;)

[DanGarion]

Depends on the county your in as to whether there's a waiting list for a particular operation, also do bear in mind you always have the option to "Go Private" and pay or have it done by a health scheme if you have one (which are MUCH cheaper in the Uk than in America because most people don't bother with them for minor issues and use the NHS for most things, thus the cost to the health care companies is a fraction of what it is for an American to be covered ... so much so that a lot of the companies have started giving away stuff like 'free gym membership' with their policies because people tend to drop them due to not using them after a while).

PS - You'll have to bear with me, I'm somewhat passionate about the NHS ;)

No worries, I just have someone that is related to my wife that has had to wait about a total of 3 years for two knee surgery replacements. Could you imagine not being able to do much of anything for 3 years.?

[flere-imsaho]

No worries, I just have someone that is related to my wife that has had to wait about a total of 3 years for two knee surgery replacements. Could you imagine not being able to do much of anything for 3 years.?

That's how long it took my father-in-law to have 2 hip replacements done in the U.S. on good private health insurance.

Having lived in both the UK and the US, I vastly prefer the NHS to the "health care system" we have in the US. And I can afford (and do pay for) excellent private health insurance.

[Kodos]

Springfield Power Plant.


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DENTAL PLAN!

[Sun Tzu]

Lisa needs braces...

[sterlingice]

Dental Plan

(Holy thread necromancy, Batman!)

SI

[MikeVic]

Lisa needs braces...