What have you all done? Is dental insurance a rip off or a good idea?
Even our dentist recommended we drop the insurance. He gave me all possible costs for various issues.
What have you all done? Is dental insurance a rip off or a good idea?
Have you checked other dental practices to see what discount they are offering?
Mr. A. is getting an implant next month. Our insurance covers about 40% of the dental office's "full" cost for surgery, implant, and crown - total, about $3200.00 with insurance. Four hundred dollars of the $3200.00 is for nitrous, which the insurance doesn't cover - but the doctor strongly urged it, because the extraction will be a rough one.
If we didn't have insurance, or if our insurance hadn't started contributing toward implants, we would have received a 25% discount off the surgery, implant and crown. (It seems a little silly to even have a "full" price since apparently, no one pays it. It reminds me of JCPenney "sales.").
Amethyst
We tried dental insurance for a year but I never saw the advantage. It had limits on yearly total payouts and didn't cover things that were expensive or complex (like implants).
The total value of the coverage was more than the year premium, but not significantly more, and heavily geared to fillings and crowns. If it doesn't cover the risk of unlikely but costly medical needs it's not really insurance.
I am sure the $400 charge is for IV sedation, not nitrous. No one has brought up going to a dental school for any extensive, expensive dental work. If you live near a dental school and you have more time than money, I would definitely consider going there for any crown and bridge work, implants, etc.
Nope. It's right there on the estimate. We live in a,high cost area and all services are expensive.
Is this $3200 total for the implant including the crown? If so I think it's extremely reasonable. I am currently going through the process of an implant that started back in March with the extraction, bone graft with sedation and last month had the implant. My dentist will install the crown in January. The surgeon's bill is $6500 with my insurance paying only $1500. I expect an additional $1100 bill from my dentist for the crown.
We plan to pay out of pocket when my COBRA coverage terminates in July. I don't think dental insurance is worth it.
Anything serious like root canal and periodontal surgery are covered by health insurance.
I retired abruptly (BS bucket was full) halfway through the work on 2 dental implants. Fortunately, I'd already burned through the annual max on my employer's policy! I looked at dental insurance and decided against it. The 6 month to 1-year waiting period on anything other than routine cleanings really turned me off. It was practically a guaranteed profit for the insurer during that period.
So far I've gotten hit with some small bills for fillings and for the 2 extra cleanings per year they recommend because I have implants (insurance would cover only two but I need 4). I'm perfectly happy to have gone without coverage, knowing that even now it's not going to be of much use if I need anything major- and despite regular care and (they tell me) taking good care of my mouth and gums, my problems tend to be major. I have a lot of old crowns an a bridge that's likely to fail sometime.
We routinely get $99 new patient special cards in the mail, but they seem to come from the more expensive dentists.Also, whats a decent price just for a routine cleaning / exam with a new dentist (no insurance)?
As an FYI.... I was looking at getting dental insurance for next year and was going through some of the policies offered this year... a couple did have waiting periods, but they were waived if you paid the full year premium up front....
The problem with dental is that there are many things that you can wait on.... so you sign up for dental insurance, get teeth fixed and then cancel policy... they are out then.... and I bet more people do this than do it with health insurance...
Anything serious like root canal and periodontal surgery are covered by health insurance.
Had some recent periodontal surgery and checked the fine print in my HI policy, unless resulting from injury, or to remove tumors/cysts, it is not covered, albeit with some other even finer print detailing exclusions to the exclusions.Root canals covered by health insurance in the US ?
How do you go about negotiating dental rates with a new dentist? Its not like they have a price list on the wall and then you can ask for a discount.
Lets say you find out you need 2 teeth pulled. Do you ask how much and when he tells you its $400, you then ask for a discount? I assume he already knows you are a cash customer when yu filled out all the forms.
Also, whats a decent price just for a routine cleaning / exam with a new dentist (no insurance)?
I had my dental appt with the Prosthodontic Graduate Clinic today. They will have additional dentists looking at things to make a game plan on what they will be doing. The dentist that I saw today gave me rough figures so far. He thinks that if they do partials and the additional things (new crowns, etc) it will cost between $6,000-$10,000. If they do implants and the additional things, it will cost between $15,000-$20,000. Maybe I should not have quit my part-time job 5/15/15. Maybe I need to look at the dental insurance again, but I don't think it will help much, since WVU dental school is out of network. I asked if there was a discount for paying cash and he said there was not.
The good part was that when I told my DH, he told me to do whatever I wanted. He told me not to think about it too much, because I always tend to go the cheaper route. I go back for a 2 hour appt on 10/26/15, which is our 43rd wedding anniversary. DH has a follow-up appt after cataract surgery on that day. Happy Wedding Anniversary to us-we know how to celebrate!