Let's look at the difference between dental discount health plans and traditional dental health insurance. Dental insurance is not what it used to be 20 or 30 years ago. Premiums are now higher for a decent policy and the traditional waiting periods that everyone must incur before they can be seen for any major problems make it almost not worth while.
Pre-existing conditions are not covered by dental insurance policies. This means that if you are suffering from tooth pain and decide to buy dental insurance to save yourself some money on your visit to the dentist, your visit will not be covered. There is a waiting period of 6-12 months before your policy will cover any portion of pre-existing conditions.
Basically, an insurance agent tells me that my premiums are going to be $50-$100 a month, I can see a dentist for a discount on preventive maintenance items such as cleanings, x-rays, fluoride treatments, etc., however, my root canal will have to wait a year, and even then it will not be covered 100%. What kind of "coverage" is this?
Dental discount plans are networks of dentists that have agreed to take less money for standard dental procedures. The only catch to this is that you must pay cash at the time of the visit. This is really a no-brainer. In the example above, if a person needs a root canal right away, they can save anywhere from 10-60% on getting this taking care of and they don't have to wait a year, they can get it done immediately. You get anywhere from 30-50% savings on most root canals which comes out to $200-$300.00 easily. Also, the annual fee for being a member of the discount plans is substantially less than standard insurance premiums. Most of these plans start as low as $79.95 annually for individual coverage.
If you're suffering from tooth pain or need to see a dentist for any other reason, you really should look into dental discount health plans as an option.
