Dental Insurance
 

I just lost my retiree dental insurance.

Anybody recommend some dental insurance I can buy on the open market?

Is Dental Insurance worth it??

Something to consider.

Do an on line search. There are several plans out there.

IMO in most cases it’s not. Over 20 years I’ve probably paid 16K in insurance. Due to the fine print restriction the insurance Provider may have paid 4K and still had to pay for 1/2 most major work I had done. Good example; root canal if you get insurance to at least half and that takes years even for that you are lucky. Legalize racketeering! I’m in the same boat delta cashing in on millions they made off us ex-military

Some of the dentists around here would be polishing your pearly whites on your deathbed so they could send the estate a bill. If you have spent a lifetime fixing that which needs to be fixed, do you really need dental insurance to pay for cleaning twice a year and the occasional filling ? Just an uninformed observation since I am not familiar with your needs.

Dental work can be very costly such as root canals, extractions, implants and caps. Not to mention the basic stuff.
I look forward to replies to the original post.
Great question

Dan and I have insurance through his day job. They pay for his dental insurance but not mine. If you compare the premiums I would have to pay ($40+ per month) with the maximum they pay out per year (~ $2,000), it isn't worth it. I go to the dentist every 3 months and I just pay for it myself. (They give me a small discount for paying cash.) What can you do ...

kathy

I tend to agree with above comments, when I looked into the actual coverage, there were so many restrictions (like no caps for 1 to 2 years), that I figured it was better to just pay as needed. OP, get a copy of the actual coverage documents, and read them very carefully, especially the restrictions. Also, watch out for any cut-rate dental facilities, several have very negative reports.

A good friend of mine works in health care consulting and evaluates dental insurance plans for a living. Individual plans are not, in her opinion, worth it.

Some Medicare Advantage plans have minimal insurance. I think it would be hard to find a plan that is worth it. Be sure to check out what the annual cap is on benefits and each type of procedure.

Another vote for "not worth it." Too many restrictions. Many/most of the less expensive plans require patients to use certain dentists. When I researched a few, the only participating offices were those chain places.

I've never had any of these things happen before but had a run of bad luck last year and broke a tooth, two crowns cracked, and I needed three root canals. It cost upwards of $8K, but dental insurance wouldn't have covered most of it anyway.

Here's an example of plans through AARP.