Dental insurance or dental plan?

[ERObjd]

retired military,but wife and I selected a dental plan over dental insurance. Ours is from Aetna and has worked well for us. It is a discount plan ..no monthly premiums.but we do pay an annual yearly fee of about $150. We only use it for a cleaning my wife goes about 3 times a year and I go once a year.about $40 per cleaning with plan. Our plan also includes a chiropractor discount of 25% which I use maybe 2-3 times a year.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I went with dental insurance that I purchased on the ACA exchange for my first 2 years of retirement. This year, I switched to Aetna’s Discount Plan. Even with the annual fee, the overall cost for basic care is less than with the insurance. For self-purchased dental insurance, the math (deductible and max coverage limit) just doesn’t usually add up.

 

[Montecfo]

Discount plans are generally better in my opinion.

You can also work out your own "uninsured" price list from your favorite dentist.

 

[friar1610]

I’m retired military. My wife and I are quite satisfied with the GEHA Standard insurance plan we’ve been on for a couple of years. Our premium is just a shade more than what would be the cost of our semi-annual checkups/cleanings plus annual x-rays. If we need to have anything more done, we come out ahead. With us in our mid-70’s it seems that an older filling needs to be replaced just about annually or something else needs attention, so it’s been a decent value for us. YMMV.

 

[Sojourner]

You can also work out your own "uninsured" price list from your favorite dentist.

+1

My dentist gives me a "professional courtesy discount", which more or less obviates the need for dental insurance. I went in for a routine cleaning recently and was pleasantly surprised to only be charged $50 vs. the usual $150 (which is the discounted rate). I had forgotten that they'd sent me an email coupon for $100 off any service, which I'd used to book the appointment.

 

[pdxgal]

Will look into a dental plan, first I'd heard about such a thing. Sounds like it could save me some $$ over my current retiree insurance.

UPDATE: Checked the Aetna site and my dentist doesn't participate in the program. Oh well. Good to know if I ever need or decide to switch dentists.

 

[JT90505]

We've been seeing the same dentist for about 10 years. He purchased the practice from the dentist we had been seeing for about 15 years. We trust him and his hygienists. He is not on any plan we could find, apart from the one he sells in his office.

He is expensive and the plan he frankly offers no discount from his 'no insurance' charge. Another way of looking at it is to compare his charges to what we pay our plumber, electrician, etc. Not to mention repair people, when they deign to accept you as a customer. It is not meaningfully more.

We are reluctant to price shop dentists, which we only use for routine cleanings exams (knock on wood). How do you feel about changing dentists based on price?

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Will look into a dental plan, first I'd heard about such a thing. Sounds like it could save me some $$ over my current retiree insurance.

UPDATE: Checked the Aetna site and my dentist doesn't participate in the program. Oh well. Good to know if I ever need or decide to switch dentists.

Aetna has a bit of a messy set of websites. This is the discount plan I use. It may be the same results as you already found, but thought I’d pass it along.

https://www.aetnavitalsavings.com/

When I asked my dentist about discount plans, the referred me to the Aetna one above as well as one from Cigna.

https://www.cignadentalsavings.com/

If you still have no luck, I would just call your dentist and ask if they take any plans like these.

 

[Bamaman]

We were going to my Sunday School teacher that was a dentist--until he retired and sold the practice. The new dentist had to increase prices of every service because she ahd to invest substantially in full head x-ray and electronic x-ray equipment. She says you wouldn't believe what it costs to run a dental practice.

We have Blue Cross basic dental at $33 per month each, and we seem at our age to come out ahead vs. paying cash out of pocket. If you have to have a tooth extracted, a crown or root canal, the prices have gone up to $900-$1000 each.

 

[OldShooter]

We have switched to the local university's dental clinic. Students in training are closely supervised by faculty, so you get quality control that you don't get in a typical dental office. Nobody tries to sell you something you don’t need, and the prices are 1/3 to 1/2 typical dental office. The kids are very intense but fun to talk to as well. The only negative, and to us it's a small one, is that appointments take much longer due to the QC checking and teaching aspect. 2 hours is not unusual, but they don't keep you waiting before starting.

Other dental schools YMMV but if you have one nearby I'd suggest checking it out. I've been told that some are free.

 

[ERObjd]

Will look into a dental plan, first I'd heard about such a thing. Sounds like it could save me some $$ over my current retiree insurance.

UPDATE: Checked the Aetna site and my dentist doesn't participate in the program. Oh well. Good to know if I ever need or decide to switch dentists.

on this site you can put in zip and find dentist that take various plans in your area.https://www.dentalplans.com/

when we still had 3 kids in the nest and in school dental insurance was the better deal because each kid got 2 cleanings and checkups a year plus 2 had to have braces and night guards and insurance covered 50% of braces which are quite expensive even at 50% off you are still left with around 2k out of pocket. I was AGR active duty and dental insurance went back and forth between Concordia and Delta dental (who ever got the contract)

once kids were out of HS and college and no longer dependents the dental plan was a much better option. all we get is cleaning and checkup..I did have a filling that was about 50 yrs old that was replaced and was about $300 with discount.

with kids in school I would say that insurance is probably better deal..once the nest is empty.. a dental plan is certainly a viable option to consider. nice to not have another monthy bill.

 

[brett]

We did not think a dental plan was of value to us. The annual limit was too low, only fifty percent of some items, no coverage on others.

That was ten years or so ago. Glad we did not take it. Looked at it last year....same issue so we passed.

 

[teej1985]

If you are retired military, you get access to the FEDVIP program and all the plans within. FEDVIP has several options that have unlimited benefits unlike most dental insurance which is heavily capped.

I'm sure your dentist is in some of the plans. You can do more research at Benefeds.com

 

[Sunset]

Does anyone use the Careington Care 500 plan ?



Oddly they have another discount plan that is the same price , but has different numbers.



The Atnea and Cigna have "name" recognition but no idea if they are good.



Our dentist has raised his pre-payment dental plan from $200 to $400 pp , and doesn't take insurance as a network provider, so we will be shopping for a new dentist.

 

[subwayhamster]

I use the Careington 500 plan for dental - this will be my second year. I used it for a bunch of services last year - no problems with my provider accepting it and the service prices were within my budget, so I renewed for this year. Keep in mind that the sample fee schedule that they send you is just that - a sample of prices. Your provider is not guaranteed to follow the sample schedule. Mine had slightly lower prices than the schedule. YMMV

 

[Happyras]

Our dentist sold their practice to Heartland, a big national. They offer the Vantage Savings, or Vantage One Dental Plan. I have not paid anything to join, and we get 50% off most routine exam, cleaning and xrays and 20% off all other ADA coded services. I think I am supposed to pay $199/yr, but the office never charged us to sign up. If your dentist is part of Heartland, I suspect this plan is available.