Tell me the truth about dental insurance

[luvya]

Ok, base on this page, which dental coverage would be best for me (individual)? I see UNI 100 only charges $79.95 per year, but Patriot seems to have the lowest feee for each procedure at $20 more per year. I dunno, I heard there is this thing called "deductible" but it's not mentioned in this page. Anyone has any more insight?

 

[Slacker]

Thats pretty standard for any med ins. figure out which one works best for you, if you think you will have lots of dr visits then the higher yearly/lower per visit would be best, if you are in good (dental) health and dont expect to see the dr often then the lower yearly/higher per visit plan would be best.

 

[luvya]

Will the doctors really honor the listed price? Or is it just a suggested price? I guess this is not the best forum to ask about dental insurance 🙁

 

[DaveSimmons]

These are not actually dental insurance, they are "dental discount plans." Supposedly, by joining the plan, some (not all) dentists will charge you less for services than they would if you are not in the plan.

If you already have a dentist you trust, you should see if your dentist offers discounts for members of any of the plans. Then before joining you might want to call the dentist's office to talk to one of the office staff and ask them if the plan really does make a differemce. Also ask them if they offer a discount for immediate payment (you bring a check and pay the same day) since that can save you up to 5% with no plan needed.

If you don't have a dentist, you might find the dentist first instead of locking yourself into whatever dentist the plan will let you use.