A Guide To Dental Insurance
The insurance industry has been providing dental insurance since the 1960s. The early plans were called Indemnity plans where the insurance company paid 80% of the claim and the patient paid 20%. The patient had the right to go to any dentist that accepted the insurance. These plans were considered on the costly side because of the flexibility they gave you and it wasn’t unheard of to be paying over $150 a month for a family plan, however, this insurance was usually paid for by an employer so the costs were largely transparent to the employees.
Over the next few decades dental insurance changed greatly. Indemnity plans were all but eradicated from the system and replaced with HMOs and PPOs just like regular health insurance. Of course, most people don’t even know what they have until they run into a problem trying to book an appointment with a new dentist who only takes PPO plans.
HMOs in the dental area have the same purpose. You have to stay in network and if there are problems you will need a referral to a specialist in order to get the treatment that was recommended. The insurance company will also have a big say as to whether they’ll pay for the treatment. They might recommend something cheaper. People with PPOs usually don’t have many of these problems.
Originally, pre-existing conditions were a big obstacle, just like in regular health plans. If you needed something done, you couldn’t just run out to get insurance and expect to have the problem attended to right away. It probably took a few months until your waiting period was over. In today’s world, this is almost forgotten about. Very few carriers demand waiting periods any longer.
All plans usually include the same coverage though; the major differences are when it comes to who you can see for treatment, what your co-pay is, and what might be covered as routine treatment vs. Invasive or cosmetic procedures.
Another option has come on the scene as well. These are discount plans rather than real insurance plans. How the patient uses them or pays for them has little difference. The plans are purchased on an annual basis for either an individual or a family. They have co-pays just like dental insurance and you may or may not need to restrict your dentists to those who accept the plan you choose to buy. Many of these discount plans include very generous coverage for purely cosmetic procedures like teeth whitening and veneers. They can also be used in conjunction with dental insurance.
The major different between discount plans and insurance policies is that when a dentist agrees to accept payments using one of these discount plans, that’s all he gets – the amount that the plan says you need to pay for a procedure. He doesn’t get additional money from the company as he would with dental insurance.
There are no waiting periods with discount plans so many people who decide they would like to have a cosmetic procedure done and it’s covered by insurance decide to buy one of these plans on line and within a few days they can have it done.
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Author: Franklin Jeter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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