Manhattan Life thru Boomer Benefits

[TrvlBug]

Dental Insurance. I recall a thread (couldn't find it) where some folks were happy with BB's offering, Manhattan Life ($1,500 year coverage). In our experience, it sucks big time.

First, we were told by BB a 6 month waiting period before most stuff is covered...turns out, it's 1 year. Now we find out that NOTHING related to implants is covered. We are in year 2 and expected some coverage of DH's crown other than a pittance of our hygiene appts. NOPE, only crowns on natural teeth are covered. And since neither DH nor I plan on dentures or bridges and such, continuing coverage would not be to our advantage. One of my teeth is failing and I plan on an implant when that happens.

That said, their coverage also covers vision and hearing. I don't have vision issues and DH usually reused frames he likes. He has high index and other specialized stuff on the lenses, which of course are not covered! Neither of us have hearing issues.

Rant over. Is anyone happy with this particular insurance? Are there other companies we should look at or just suck it up and self insure?

 

[REWahoo]

I've never found any non-employer dental insurance worth the cost of the premium. When we retired we baked several thousand $ in expected annual dental costs into our budget.

 

[njhowie]

I've never found any non-employer dental insurance worth the cost of the premium. When we retired we baked several thousand $ in expected annual dental costs into our budget.

Agreed. Every dental plan I've looked at had ridiculously low annual maximum payout - many even lower than the total premiums you pay. Hard to believe they could get away with calling it "insurance".

Check with your own dentist and ask about any discount plans they may offer. DW's has a plan for $250/year which includes two cleanings+X-rays and 30% off of any procedures.

 

[grasshopper]

Agreed. Every dental plan I've looked at had ridiculously low annual maximum payout - many even lower than the total premiums you pay. Hard to believe they could get away with calling it "insurance".

Check with your own dentist and ask about any discount plans they may offer. DW's has a plan for $250/year which includes two cleanings+X-rays and 30% off of any procedures.

We have something similar with our dentist $460 for the two of us. We get 4 cleanings a year each, 2 paid for out of pocket, but have dental exams every visit. Wasn't much help for implants except for the many paid for x-rays.

 

[OldShooter]

My approach is to get the work done at our local university's dental school clinic. The two main reasons are (1) they don't try to sell me work I don't need, unlike many small dental offices, and (2) quality control is very high; the school professors review every step.

It is also fairly inexpensive. I think it's half or less the usual "retail." I mentioned this in a thread a year or so ago and someone chimed in that their local school clinic was free (!).

The only downside is that the appointments are usually an hour or two between the student doing the work and then calling a professor to check every step. Students have one patient scheduled in the morning and another in the afternoon. Zero pressure to rush the work. No problem for an old retired fart but probably a factor for some.

 

[Midpack]

I have Manhattan Life dental-vision-hearing and I have mixed feelings. I knew there were exclusions for year 1 and about the graduated % they pay years 1 thru 3, so there haven’t been any surprises. They did reduce the two claims I did file in year one, and I have a crown they’ll pay a chunk of now that I’m in year 2, but there’s a good chance I’ll drop them after that. My dentist has a plan that I’ll look at then. REW is probably right.

 

[momoftwo]

Im ambivalent about dental insurance also.
We had employer coverage via Delta dental and have had same for last 2 years in retirement.

Both of us have fillings and/or crowns each year it seems. No implants so far.
We pay $1500/ year premiums and have used the $2000 coverage for each of us each year.
Exams, cleanings, Xrays are at 100%, work at 50%.

Even if we exceed the max benefit, we would still get the reduced contract rate.
Seems to make sense.

 

[Telly]

Dental Insurance. I recall a thread (couldn't find it) where some folks were happy with BB's offering, Manhattan Life ($1,500 year coverage). In our experience, it sucks big time.

BB gently pushed a Dental insurance plan when I initially signed up with them for a Medigap plan. After looking at the details including all the exclusions, it was a joke. I think it is very important to really look at all the details yourself for any insurance plan, and not depend on a broker to always act in your best interest. We usually don't know what bonuses they get from ins. cos for signing X people up a month, or any special promotions they might be swayed by. In general, we have a tendency to suspect financial advisors, and we should not let our guard down on selecting insurance, either.

 

[Sunset]

..
Check with your own dentist and ask about any discount plans they may offer. DW's has a plan for $250/year which includes two cleanings+X-rays and 30% off of any procedures.

We have a similar "plan" with our dentist, about $450 for both of us with the same coverage.

 

[TrvlBug]

BB gently pushed a Dental insurance plan when I initially signed up with them for a Medigap plan. After looking at the details including all the exclusions, it was a joke. I think it is very important to really look at all the details yourself for any insurance plan, and not depend on a broker to always act in your best interest. We usually don't know what bonuses they get from ins. cos for signing X people up a month, or any special promotions they might be swayed by. In general, we have a tendency to suspect financial advisors, and we should not let our guard down on selecting insurance, either.

This was our mistake, relying on BB's rep rather than reading the policy. We'll be cancelling both mine and DH's coverage and self insure. A good thing DH was still working and his dental coverage covered $2K a year for his first implant (straddled 2 calendar years!)

 

[TrvlBug]

... ...

Check with your own dentist and ask about any discount plans they may offer. DW's has a plan for $250/year which includes two cleanings+X-rays and 30% off of any procedures.

Unfortunately our (very expensive) dentist does not offer any sort of plan. The only discount is $20 off on the dentist's checkup during your hygiene appt. We do this once a year. It's worth every penny as she discovered a tumor in DH's throat a couple of years ago. Fortunately it was benign.

 

[Koolau]

I almost cried when I lost our employer subsidized dental insurance. I think it was $25/mo for whole family (to age 26) or $20/mo for DW and me. It carried through to retirement - until they dropped it. Coverage was at LEAST 50% on "procedures" and prophylaxis was 100%. Saved us a bundle.

ALL plans we looked at post-subsidized were at best a "pre-paying" of inevitable dental costs. No real "insurance" for anything catastrophic. To come even close, you had to "plan" your dental expenses - not too convenient when something hurt!

So we are going naked. Both of us are blessed with good mouth chemistry (don't know the technical term, but tarter is slow-forming for both of us.) We have gotten by with YEARLY cleanings rather than every 6 months as recommended. Big stuff is a pain (replacing a bridge cost $4K OOP! Ouch!)

So, I agree, dental insurance on your own is probably a non-starter. It does not appear to be structured the way even catastrophic health care coverage is structured. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing NO dental plan would cover a major tooth loss (sudden gum disease, accidents, etc.) They are pay-as-you go. Once in a while, you might take more than you give, but not likely IMO.

I'm no expert - just telling you what we found when we looked so YMMV.

 

[Sunset]

If you ever have an accident, go the medical route for dental repair, so health insurance covers a good portion.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

There are only 3 reasons to have ANY insurance: 1) To sustain an unsustainable loss. Example, is if your house burns down. 2) To get discounts on services when you pay claim yourself. In-network lab work is $25 whereas standard rate is $350. 3) To get quicker or better service in the event of a claim. Sometimes adjuster will negotiate with car repair shop.

I am excluding instances where employer subsidizes cost and the law/contracts mandates that you have coverage.

Some will say that insurance smooths out your cash flow. Example, you pay $50 a month for coverage instead of $600 of claims at one time. That may be but you are paying a premium for this because any year you don't have claims that equal the premiums you lose. And the insurance companies price it so they make money. In my example, $50 times 12 = $600. Underwriting is more like 80%. So an insurance company would price it so you would pay $50 per month for expected payout of $480.

Dental insurance has a cap and excludes high priced items, so if you have multiple implants in one year, it won't help much or at all. Reason 1 is therefore, invalid.

In my area, dentists are not "in-network" with any plan. I think many/most dental plans don't even have networks, so in the event of a procedure or claim dental insurance will not get you cheaper or quicker or better service. So, reasons 2 and 3 are out the window.

So why have dental insurance?

 

[finnski1]

I've never found any non-employer dental insurance worth the cost of the premium. When we retired we baked several thousand $ in expected annual dental costs into our budget.

+1 every time I look each year the pittance of coverage for the price is not worth it

 

[gettingthere]

Is there any benefit to dental insurance in that you would get a "negotiated" lower price for services? Or doesn't it work like that?

For example (using made up numbers) in Medical insurance, the amount you are billed might be $1500, the negotiated amount the insurance would allow for that procedure is $1000, the Insurance pays 80% of the $1000, you pay 20% of $1000, and the $500 above the negotiated amount just goes away?

 

[teej1985]

Is there any benefit to dental insurance in that you would get a "negotiated" lower price for services? Or doesn't it work like that?

For example (using made up numbers) in Medical insurance, the amount you are billed might be $1500, the negotiated amount the insurance would allow for that procedure is $1000, the Insurance pays 80% of the $1000, you pay 20% of $1000, and the $500 above the negotiated amount just goes away?

Yes, there is. There are several 'discount plans" you can sign up which get you access to the in-network rates.

 

[gettingthere]

Thank you, I will check with my dentist to see if he accepts any of these plans and see if he can calculate what my savings might be for any anticipated work.