With the cost associated with going to a dentist it is no wonder that dental insurance is the second most requested benefit after health insurance.  Not just the $800 root canal or $1,000 crown, even the 6 month visit for a checkup and cleaning can cause a financial pinch nowadays.  If you include a set of x-rays the annual cost of just preventive care can be close to $400, over $1,500/year for a family of 4.  Until recently the best way to secure a good dental plan to help with these costs was through employer paid group insurance.  Individual and employee-paid voluntary dental plans were generally limited to either fee schedule insurance  or dental HMO plans, neither of which provided the routine care at no-cost enjoyed by employees in group dental insurance.  With the current economic climate causing many smaller employers to tighten up on benefits, often cutting out dental plans in the process, 108 million Americans now lack dental insurance and that number is growing daily.  This huge market opportunity, as you might imagine, has not gone unnoticed.

The good news is that insurance companies have quickly moved to fill this void in the individual and family marketplace and many are now offering dental plans with benefit levels comparable to group plans.  The even better news is that this has become such a competitive marketplace that an individual can now purchase an excellent dental plan with premiums far less than employers are paying for a comparable group plan.  When shopping for a dental plan, individual Americans now have a choice of 8 different types of dental plans  from numerous companies.  So, with all of this opportunity, how does one go about selecting a dental plan?

The simplest way is to look at things financially.  If you plan to go for routine checkups every 6 months you know you’ll be spending in the range of $350-$400/year, so if you can buy a plan that will cover these procedures in full for a premium in the range of $30/month ($125/month for a family of 4) you’ve at least come up with an excellent budgeting tool.  If no other dental procedures are needed your net outlay is the same as it would have been without insurance, but if you do have additional needs you’ll have insurance in place to help pay for them at no extra cost.  If you can buy a plan for less than $30/month, and in today’s market you can very easily do so, you are going to come out significantly ahead.  For example, United Health  offers a PPO dental plan in Ohio that pays in full for preventive care, 80% for basic and 50% for major work with current premiums just over $20/month for individuals and $71/month for families.  Shop around!  The right dental plan can end up saving you a lot of money.

Feel free to contact Ronald Haines at ronald@hcibenefits.com