Dental insurance is insurance designed to pay a portion of the costs associated with dental care. There are several different types of individual, family, or group dental insurance plans.
In general, a dental insurance plan covers a percentage of the dental charges incurred at a dental office, and may include free preventative services such as cleanings. There is no industry standard annual maximum limitation, deductible, or co-pay. Such coverages and benefit limitations are determined by each insurance company.
So, what exactly is a discount dental plan, and how does it work?
Discount dental plans are essentially, as the name implies, a discount membership card that you purchase from a company that has contracted with dentists to offer their services to you at significant discounts - often 10%-60% on most procedures. You simply purchase a plan for yourself and/or your family for a very affordable price - starting at $79.95 for individuals, and $99 for families. You can use this card to received discounts on most dental care procedures with each dental visit throughout the year.
With a discount dental plan comes plenty of perks besides just the affordable price. You'll never have to worry about the dreaded claims forms inherent with traditional dental insurance. Nor will you need to worry about unfair health restrictions. Some of you like what you're hearing about discount plans, but wonder how easily accessible dentists are that accept discount dental plans? Well, in short, quite easy. There are probably a number of dentists in your area that accept discount dental plans. Why? Well, there are hundreds of plans, and dentists rely on discount dental plans to bring in new patients. So, the dentist brings in patients while you save a significant amount of money. It's a true win-win.
Low cost dental plans also have a large list of providers to choose from. When searching for a plan you will want to ask your dentist which networks, they belong to. This will help you when choosing a discount dental policy. When choosing a plan you will have to use one of the dentists that are in the network. There is no need to worry about finding a dentist as more and more offices are joining these networks because they need patients in order to keep their practice open.
There are indeed health insurance plans that have a certain amount of dental coverage, but they don't fill the need for low cost dental plans. The dental coverage included in health insurance plans is low and it barely covers for routine procedures. You can find out what's covered by asking your insurance company.
Low cost dental plans have approved networks of dental services providers and you need to work with them once you enroll for the plan. If you have a favorite dentist, ask him if he's part of a network and choose a dental plan that offers you access to that network.
