Sunday, April 24, 2011

Dental Insurance Plans Secrets Revealed

By Edward M. Brancheau

Dental insurance plans are insurance designed to pay the costs associated with dental care. Dental care by dentists, orthodontists and hospitals will have a portion of their charges paid by dental insurance. By doing so, dental insurance protects people from financial hardship caused by unexpected dental expenses.

More than 50% of the people in the United States aren't covered by any of dental insurance plans according to the American Dental Association (ADA). Almost all of those people that receive dental insurance sign-up for it through their employer as a secondary part of their health insurance. You should consider having a compatible program to fill in the gaps between the two plans depending upon what type of health insurance you have. By doing this, you will receive preventative dental care as well as the advantage of saving money.

That said, dental insurance plans are not highly desirable by a lot of dentists. Basically, this means less pay plus more work (especially more paperwork.) It is important to not over-insure nor under-insure so it is important to assess your situation when purchasing adequate coverage. Furthermore, you should keep in mind that all insurance plans have restrictions such as annual maximum payments and pre-existing conditions.

Common sorts of dental insurance plans are mainly Dental Health Maintenance Organizations (DHMO) or Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO). PPOs and DHMOs are both types of managed care and, therefore, both dental insurance plans have disadvantages and advantages.

All fees are generally not covered because even though dentists provide their services for these plans and have agreed upon amount that they will charge the insurance companies, there are still a few fees left unpaid. There are deductibles to consider and most of these types of dental insurance plans only pay a percentage of the charges, leaving the patient with a co-pay. Additionally, there may be an annual maximum amount that the dental insurance plans will pay.

If your employer is paying the monthly premiums for the dental insurance plan and the dentist you use is part of the PPO, this might be an attractive option.

Based on medical HMOs, DHMOs offer other dental insurance plans. Here, too, the patient is enrolled in a program and can visit any dentist in that program. However, by comparison to a PPO, dentists may not be held to spend as much time with each patient and may end up providing services below cost. In a DHMO, volume matters more than quality, and so dentists are often driven to spend less time with their patients. Due to lack of time, even though a patient will eventually be seen and treated, there is no true relationship between the dentist and the patient. If you want to be seen by a dentist who takes time with his or her patients, this may not be your optimum dental insurance plan.

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