Best low cost dental insurance

[Travis Price]

In all seriousness though, I'd make the old man proud. I wrote a $69.00 a month dental plan. He'd be disappointed because it's an association plan, but it's better than anything Delta offers to individuals..

 

[vic120]

I've always had wide ranging musical tastes, but the older I get, the more I really love acoustic folksy music.

Yes it's a good song

Only, its that verse that I think of in connection to Lost Doller In my head its his them song

Give me things that don't get lost
Like a coin that won't get tossed

and the fact the words Old man is repeated as well

 

[LostDollar]

I currently purchase dental insurance for about $100 per month from the health care exchange. This is for our family of four (myself, wife, 2 kids).

We currently do our 6 month visits but with deductibles we pretty much pay the full price anyway. None of us have dental issues.

Do you think dental insurance is worth buying?

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

FIRST, Please understand I am NOT, and never have been, an insurance agent of any type.

SECOND, please understand that my opinion about Dental Insurance is different than the opinion most agents responding to posts here have about that type of insurance coverage.

THIRD, please understand that for 20-25 years the Dental Insurance coverage I have had has been employer group coverage. I did not have either the opportunity to select, or the burden of selecting, plan characteristics.

THIRD-Continued ALSO please understand that with the employer group coverage, the total premium cost was likely less than anything I could have found as an individual AND the COST of the Dental Insurance was SPLIT between the employer and the employee.

I currently purchase dental insurance for about $100 per month from the health care exchange. This is for our family of four (myself, wife, 2 kids).

We currently do our 6 month visits but with deductibles we pretty much pay the full price anyway. None of us have dental issues.

Even if you don't gain much catastrophic insurance coverage from the Dental policy, is it useful to you to have the payments spread out in a planned and orderly manner over the year?

IF you go to a dentist in the network for your particular plan, remember that any service will have a network pricing reduction, in addition to the cash paid to the dentist. Do you have the cash flow necessary to pay the dentist full retail price for their service?

Many agents will recommend Dental Discount plans. (You should be sure your Dentist will accept the Discount Plan you want to buy.) With a discount plan you give up the opportunity for Network Pricing adjustments. But that might still be an option you would prefer.

Do you think dental insurance is worth buying?

I think it was in 2022, for about 6 months, I had 3 dental insurance policies.

(Note: that is my answer to your question, not a recommendation I am saying others should follow.)

 

[goillini52]

Caveat, not an agent.

You can look online for Delta Dental Individual Coverage for your state and get an idea of what the levels of a better quality dental plan will cost you. You can compare provider networks and covered services between Delta and your plan.

United Healthcare has some lower cost coverage. Their provider network is more limited and they will likely come up with some surprises for you on what they cover and what they don't.

Please note that the types of work you are talking about require waiting periods too. Root canals will be a waiting period of 12 months. I think fillings are usually a waiting period of 6 months. Don't know where extractions fall.

Also please note that dental coverage usually has an annual limit. I think what I have seen is $1,000 $1,500 or $2,000. The higher the annual limit, the higher the premium. If you have a significant quantity of dental work you will need done in one year, you will likely have some out of pocket regardless of whether or not you have insurance. I think this is one of the things you will get a sense of if you check Delta Dental coverage.

A dental discount card might be an option to look into.

I have no idea if this is possible or not, but another thing you could check is to see if your parents' medical insurance company also offers dental coverage, and if so, if you could purchase a policy there.

Another thing to look at very carefully is provider networks. What I have seen is that the less expensive Dental Carriers (both on and off the exchange) tend to have more limited networks and the dentist you want to see may not accept that insurance.

Many companies offer $5K annual max now. Manhattan and Aetna (stand alone) offer $5K.

 

[LostDollar]

Many companies offer $5K annual max now. Manhattan and Aetna (stand alone) offer $5K.

Thank you for the info.

I'll try to keep that in mind. As far as my personal insurance is concerned, I think I need to stick with what I have, even though the maxes are less.

(I just need to overcome my "finding a driver" problem and my fears about under sedation root canals and crowns and get some stuff done so my mouth will stop hurting. )