Dental Insurance Late Enrollment

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I signed up for dental coverage in January 2021 with an effective date of February 1st through Covered California, Open Enrollment period was still in effect.
I had a 6 month waiting period before I could get my crowns and then Covid got bad which slowed things down. I was prepped for the crowns in early October and was told they'd be ready in two weeks by the dental school. I called at three weeks and lots of apologies they were behind and then called two weeks later and they were still not done. I have a visit tomorrow to hopefully get 2 permanent crowns placed but I still need a third one started and I'm running out of time. The dental school closes Dec 17th so they will not be ready till January. I assumed my years coverage would be good till the end of January but according to Anthem my new year starts in January 1st. I've called Anthem and talked to the same guy 3 times that really does not have a clue. I've made it clear I am not signing up for another year with them, they pay hardly anything since the school is not in network. He changes his answer every time but he basically is now saying my coverage will end when I stop paying and I won't be obligated to stay with them for the whole 12 month period.
I'm pretty sure they took my January payment out already and will probabaly grab February in two weeks. Does anyone have any knowledge of how this works if you join a plan late, I'm sure tons of people did this last year, our open enrollment was extended all the way to to August IIRC.
Has anyone ran into this before and how did it work?
I have not called Covered California yet and have not made any selection for dental or not and I'm running out of time.

 

[Sunset]

I never found dental insurance worth it, even when I got it via work. Practically all the years I used about as much as I paid. They had limits of $1,000 on serious work that would cost $3,000.
We haven't had it for many years.

 

[GoodbyeYellow]

We are in the process of getting on Covered California and asked the independent agent about dental insurance. She was pretty negative on the offerings and suggested we go private market. Sorry about your experience, hope you can salvage something.

 

[finnski1]

I never found dental insurance worth it, even when I got it via work. Practically all the years I used about as much as I paid. They had limits of $1,000 on serious work that would cost $3,000.
We haven't had it for many years.

+1.

 

[Aerides]

I don't have any experience with CA policies, but your late enrollment likely does not extend the end date. Any insurance I've ever heard of runs to EOY. That your provider is closing early is unfortunate, but not the insurer's problem (unfortunately).

I don't carry dental insurance either - the annual cap makes it useless for anything significant, and most dentists offer a membership/discount plan that ends up being as good as, if not better. IE, a crown on the plan is probably the same as you'd pay with insurance. Most plans like this also include xrays, exams, cleanings, in the annual costs, which are often about the same as premiums.

 

[PageTwo]

I *just* went through this analysis and decided to sign up for this year. If my projections are correct, I should save about $500 in the year. I have quite a predictable dental routine - periodontal maintenance (PM) is my main thing -- I had surgery several years ago and it's a must after that. I do it 3 times a year, plus a regular check-up every other time I go in for the PM, and yearly X-rays. Regular check-ups have never found anything wrong in many years. Hope it stays that way!

In WA, the exchange offered me 3 dental plans. One didn't cover PM at all - no good. The other one covered it at 50% with a max of 2 per year. The 3rd plan covers 4/year at 100%. I was surprised that the plans could be so different from each other! Needless to say I went with the 3rd one, and according to my projections I'll go over the $1000 max but only by $147. Even with the premiums I'll save about $500 versus going direct with the dental office.

 

[swakyaby]

I’ve always purchased dental insurance, mostly because DH maxes out his benefits every year. My crown cost me $400 out of pocket whereas it would have cost me closer to $1,200 without insurance. This year, I chose Anthem Blue Cross Duo insurance which covers dental and vision, and I plan to continue it next year. I’m in California.

By the way, I found that those 6-12 month wait periods for crowns with new insurance apply if you don’t provide the new dental insurance proof that you had dental insurance the preceding 12 months.

 

[braumeister]

Dental insurance can be a good deal, but that's the exception rather than the rule. Caveat emptor.

We're lucky in that DW's last employer offered subsidized dental insurance that she still gets as a retiree.

Over a five year period, our dentists billed roughly $7K.
Of that, insurance paid $3,300 and we paid $3K.
Our insurance premiums were about $1,800 so we saved over $2K in that period.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

The way my dental insurance is priced, a family is about 3x the cost of the individual plan. So with 5 family members in my house, the insurance makes sense (saves money), even for just the routine 2 visits per person per year.

 

[Tafkah]

I just signed up for Delta Dental HMO thru Covered California and coverage begins January 1. It was only $15 a month, includes 2 cleanings/checkups and there's no waiting period for major things. Root canals and crowns are just $300 each, seems too good to be true. I'll have to change dentists, but I've already made an appointment with an in-network dentist for February.

 

[Bamaman]

We have Blue Cross Blue Shield on dental insurance @ $33 per month each. I think the max they'll pay is $1,500 per year and there's a $100 deductible.

What I'm concerned with is the rising cost of root canals and crowns. Dental services in the South are cheaper than elsewhere, but root canals and crowns here are about $850. One root canal specialist went up to $1,000--cash and credit cards only accepted at time of service. I ended up driving 40 miles to a dentist that charges $700 and he takes BCBS insurance.

I am also concerned about the rising cost of normal dental office visits, cleanings and fillings. Inflation's really hitting doctors' offices, and most are going to go up in price which makes marginal dental insurance worth even less. But I still get more services rendered than premiums paid out.

 

[NewEnglander]

Earlier this year my DW had a crown replaced, the replacement was 3D printed in the Dentists office, no more waiting for the external lab to make them! The most difficult part was matching the color to the other teeth. Cost was identical to the lab produced crowns. One other advantage is if you break a crown a replacement can be produced from your data file in less than an hour.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I'm still ahead of the game, so far they've reimbursed me more than I've I paid in premiums for my routine checkup, cleaning and fillings.
I went to the dental school yesterday, made a double appointment and got 2 my crowns seated so I will definitely get paid for them.
They also prepped for the 3rd crown so I'm just waiting for it to come in sometime in January. I think I will cancel the plan effective January 31st or maybe February 28th and wait and see what happens.

 

[Sunset]

Earlier this year my DW had a crown replaced, the replacement was 3D printed in the Dentists office, no more waiting for the external lab to make them! The most difficult part was matching the color to the other teeth. Cost was identical to the lab produced crowns. One other advantage is if you break a crown a replacement can be produced from your data file in less than an hour.

While that is a great profit item for the dental office, I wonder what it is made of and can it be as durable as a "real" crown.
Was it cheaper than a regular crown ?

 

[GoodbyeYellow]

While that is a great profit item for the dental office, I wonder what it is made of and can it be as durable as a "real" crown.
Was it cheaper than a regular crown ?

Would love to learn the answers too. My new dentist does them in-house, did 3 for me in the past month with a fourth to come.