Apr 25
Traditional Dental Insurance Growing Obsolete
If you thought that 46 million Americans without health insurance was a benchmark for a dysfunctional health care system, consider this: 108 million of our citizens have no dental insurance, according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The reason, as always, is cost. According to a 2005 report by the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP) individual dental HMO insurance averages $192 per year, individual dental PPO insurance is at $288 per year and individual indemnity insurance comes in at about $372 per year.
Increasingly, consumers and employers are turning to discount dental plans to obtain the essential coverage they need at a price they can afford. Discount dental plan members pay a low annual membership fee and are granted access to a network of participating providers offering discounts of 10 percent to 60 percent on most dental procedures, including braces, root canals, crowns, dentures, cosmetic dentistry and more on select plans.
The concept is an abbreviated dental HMO; it provides coverage for the more major procedures and leaves the maintenance work to the patient. Short term health plans and student health plans offer similar coverage that focuses on major health issues.
According to the NADP discount dental plans – starting at $79.95 per year for individuals and $129.95 per year for families – are much more affordable than traditional dental insurance. Many businesses are using discount dental plans to offer dental benefits to people that are rarely covered by traditional dental insurance, including retirees, part-timers, seasonal workers and uninsured dependants.
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April 25th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Seriously, does dental insurance ever pay for much of anything beyond a cleaning and a new set of annual x-rays?
The issue here is most certainly cost. As Valeria points out, the HMO/PPO route is quite spendy, for what it covers, and even with the cost breaks offered by discount plans, dental care tends to be a costly proposition… the ignoring of which can lead to expensive medical/dental interventions down the line. I really had no idea that such a huge number of people have uninsured mouths!