Bright Idea Dental

[LostDollar]

The BrightIdea Dental brochure indicated that a waiting period would be waived if a current insuror would acknowledge proof of coverage for the prior 12 months. Beyond that, I think I agree with Chazm, probably unlikely to find a company that offers the major coverage without a waiting period. (and if they do, there is probably a premium differential from other companies.)

 

[ftcworld]

Hello Chazm and Somarco ,
At Bright Idea Dental, we have a waiver program that will waive the 12 month waiting period for major services with verified proof of prior coverage of dental insurance (not dental discount plans). The form with instructions and info needed to secure the waiver is available on our site as well to all comers.
I am guessing I am a little older than you two, as you grow older your need to repair, replace, get major work done one's teeth from grinding, etc becomes more numerous and hugely more expensive. I've talked to many of my friends, associates, and peers who had $30k, $40k and $50k of work done on their teeth! I have been challenging financial planners and consultants for years to put a line item in for the above amounts per person for health expenses as part of their clients' overall retirement planning these days. We all know Medicare doesn't cover dental per se and the solution provided by most dentists involve multiple implants for many many people. The average implant is $4000 cost each. One has to have big shoes in the closet these days!. Seriously, our program is a breakthrough program, superior to the atypical programs that most agents like yourselves know about and learned about over the years because that was all that was available. Recognizing to cover implants is now a basic need for the general public at large puts Bright Ideal in a huge competitive advantage and as a huge step. Even if one doesn't qualify for the waiver and has to wait 12 months for major services, using one of our 600,000+ providers, will get them the not to exceed contracted pricing agreement levels. For example, my wife had a $7800 dental bill recently ; $2200 was immediately discounted for going to a network dentist. Another $1875 was paid for covered expenses, saving close to $4100 for that one problem. That's a plan worth keeping for the long term. And my wife is scheduled to have more work done in near future. Fred

 

[somarco]

Waiting period for Major services can be waived with proof of *Includes $2.00 Association Fee prior coverage. Proof of prior coverage will only be accepted from the prior carrier and showing 12 months of continuous fully insured coverage with no lapse. DHMO, discount, or scheduled plan coverage will not be accepted.

Many plans have a 6 month wait.

Obtaining proof may be a challenge, even if from a group insurance carrier. Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through to gain coverage that may not be worth the price you pay.

Bright Ideas claims over 600,000 participating dentists. Dentemax says they have 271,000 dentists. DenteMax Home | DenteMax Dental PPO Network

DentalPlans, a large discount dental broker, says the Dentemax network has 61,000 dentists.

That's a large discrepancy.

What other embellishments exist in the coverage?

 

[ftcworld]

Somarco, "many plans have a 6 month wait". How many? And are most of these "many plans" the atypical inferior plans that we all know and hate that have a $1000, 1200, or in the $1500 annual max range paying at best 50% of major work. $500, 600, or $750 at best and 98% don't cover implants. Who is the embellisher here to make a minor point.

 

[rousemark]

Somarco, "many plans have a 6 month wait". How many? And are most of these "many plans" the atypical inferior plans that we all know and hate that have a $1000, 1200, or in the $1500 annual max range paying at best 50% of major work. $500, 600, or $750 at best and 98% don't cover implants. Who is the embellisher here to make a minor point.

If you have a plan that has a $1500 annual maximum and pays 50% of major work, that does not mean it will only pay $750 as you imply. It ill pay 50% of the charges up to a maximum of $1500 so if you have $3000 major work, the plan will pay $1500.. not $750 "at best"...

 

[ftcworld]

Of course I was basing it on $1500 of major work. That was obvious wasn't it? Thank for expounding the example. Remember the $4000 average cost for implants won't even be considered for reimbursement with those atypical plans where with Bright Idea Dental they are covered! So in your example if the major work was an implant - your plan would pay $0 and ours would pay $1500. And if the implant was an average cost, Bright Idea Dental would pay $2000 and your plan zip. $2000 divided by 12 months = $166/monthly savings plus additional savings for preventative and any basic services. What if that person needs one more implant that same year and the spouse needs one as well. Our plan just gets better! And remember the maxes on all are plans no preventative costs are applied to them leaving more coverage dollars. How about the other plans - do they do that? How of the many plans you mentioned have the 6 month waiting periods at what annual maxes?

 

[GreenSky]

What's the annual loss ratio for Brighty dental?

Rick

 

[Chazm]

And he is right, I have a UHC dental plan with $1200 coverage and preventive goes towards that amount.

If you don't like dental plans, that's fine and dandy. But this is one of the better ones I've seen.

The only plan I've seen with no waiting on major work are the copay plans like Humanas hi215 (no network) and delta dentals Plan here in FL which also had a tiny network and is now gone. Every single other plan I've seen has a 12 month wait on major. Including CUL's DVH which is the only other plan I'll offer.

 

[rousemark]

Of course I was basing it on $1500 of major work. That was obvious wasn't it? Thank for expounding the example. Remember the $4000 average cost for implants won't even be considered for reimbursement with those atypical plans where with Bright Idea Dental they are covered! So in your example if the major work was an implant - your plan would pay $0 and ours would pay $1500. And if the implant was an average cost, Bright Idea Dental would pay $2000 and your plan zip. $2000 divided by 12 months = $166/monthly savings plus additional savings for preventative and any basic services. What if that person needs one more implant that same year and the spouse needs one as well. Our plan just gets better! And remember the maxes on all are plans no preventative costs are applied to them leaving more coverage dollars. How about the other plans - do they do that? How of the many plans you mentioned have the 6 month waiting periods at what annual maxes?

If it were obvious, I would not have responded as I did. You keep talking about implants.. I only know a couple of people that have implants. Know lots that wear glasses including me... how much do you pay on that? I know many more people with hearing aids, including me...how much do you pay on that?

 

[LostDollar]

And he is right, I have a UHC dental plan with $1200 coverage and preventive goes towards that amount.

If you don't like dental plans, that's fine and dandy. But this is one of the better ones I've seen.

The only plan I've seen with no waiting on major work are the copay plans like Humanas hi215 (no network) and delta dentals Plan here in FL which also had a tiny network and is now gone. Every single other plan I've seen has a 12 month wait on major. Including CUL's DVH which is the only other plan I'll offer.

FLM2, in another thread, raised the issue of being an employee to participate, vs the association membership which the flyer describes. Have you resolved that issue in your mind?