As an insurance agent, I get asked a lot of questions about dental insurance. Many times people will ask, ”Do I need dental insurance?”, “Are there waiting periods?” “What dental insurance options are available?” Dental insurance tends to be something that is looked at on a ‘case by case’ basis, as it has variables, and can be very pricey.
With regards to waiting periods; it depends on the amount of work you need to be done. For major dental services, there typically will be waiting periods, as many plans pay out $1500-$2000 per year, which is not a lot. If your needs are related to cleanings, check-ups, or children’s oral surgery, most times the waiting periods are shorter. If you can get dental insurance through your employer, that’s when the waiting periods are usually waived.
If you don’t have access to get dental insurance through an employer, then we need to look at doing individual plans that kind of fit your needs.
The dental insurance company that I recommend the most is Delta Dental. This operates as a true dental insurance option. They are nationwide and have a huge network. They sell individual plans, but there will be limitations on major work. They offer ‘in’ and ‘out’ of network benefits, and because their network is so large, it’s easy to stay within the network and save money.
The other dental insurance plan I recommend is Dental Savings Plans. You’ll need to double-check with your provider that they are in-network. It is very affordable a yearly one-time fee usually about $170 for the year for a family or $140 for an individual. This operates like a savings plan rather than dental insurance – for example, if you have the Aetna dental savings plan, then you get charged the Aetna price that they would have paid the dentist. This basically is a discount for you. There are options with Dental Savings plans on Humana, Cigna, and others. You need to make sure that your doctor is ‘in network’ for it to work, and it’s a lot cheaper than dental insurance. It’s also an option to use this as a cash patient.
My approach is to sit down with my clients and ask them all the relevant questions to ensure that we find the best dental insurance options for you. If you have a plan through your employer, or if you’re self-employed and want to offer dental as a benefit to your employees, I can assist you. If you would like to book an appointment you can do so on my website www.jkappconsulting.com/.
