Things to Consider Before Buying Dental Insurance
Each insurance product has its unique set of features that need to be studied to choose one which best suits your requirements. In case of health insurance and dental insurance, the matter is more complicated. You need to read the fine print really carefully to know what kind of coverage is being offered and how much is it going to cost you. Let us see what are the factors which need to be considered while choosing a dental insurance policy.
Firstly you need to determine what kind of a plan you are opting for. There are two primary types, which include PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans and indemnity plans. In PPO plans you get discounted treatment from certain group of dental practitioners, while indemnity plans let you choose your dentist and cover a part of the expenses. There is a third kind called direct reimbursement plan, that allow employers to pay for their employees’ dental care expenses.
The first thing you should check out is the amount of deductible offered by the insurance plan. Deductibles is the maximum amount of dental care bills you must pay for on your own, before insurance kicks in and pays for further expenses.
Then you must consider the monthly or yearly premium for the dental insurance plan. Check out what all procedures are covered by the plan and how much does the insurance company pay for each. The company will specify what is known as a ‘Usual, Customary and Reasonable (UCR) fees structure’. This is a specification of the minimum amount of expenses that the company will pay for each procedure. Full coverage plans generally provide 50% insurance cover on major procedures along with two paid yearly examinations, an X-ray scan and some of the standard procedures like fluoride treatment. The details of coverage will vary according to the insurance company.
Cost
According to the nature of the dental insurance plan, the cost involved will vary. Overall, you may expect the yearly premium to be anywhere between $200 to more than $500. Family plans will obviously cost a bit more. There are many websites on the Internet like ‘Insurance Providers’, ‘eHealth Insurance’ or ‘Dental Insurance’ which offer free quotes of the best dental insurance plans on offer. All you have to do is enter your zip code and browse through the list of quotes offered, to select one which best suits your requirements.
So overall, you can expect to shell out an average of $200 to more than $500, for dental insurance. Make sure that you check out all the features of the insurance policy, including deductibles, copay details and the information about the procedures that it offers coverage for. You always have the option of opting for a dental plan, instead of an insurance cover, but the latter is a much more cost-effective option. Scan the dental health insurance quotes that you will find on the websites suggested before and choose the plan which you find to be the most reasonable, according to cost and features.
