Uninsured And Underinsured Americans Are Saving 10% To 60% On Dental Care Thanks To DentalPlans.com

Open enrollment for employer-sponsored health insurance ended last week in most states, but an estimated 29% of adults still don’t have dental coverage. That’s due, in part, to the fact that dental care is often treated as something separate from healthcare. The Affordable Care Act doesn’t even include dental coverage as part of its ten essential health benefits that all plans must include, despite the fact that poor oral health has been linked to heart disease and other serious chronic health problems. 

The good news for those millions of Americans who missed out on dental insurance: dental savings plans are open to join year-round and can reduce the cost of dental care by 10% to 60% depending on the procedure and plan. DentalPlans.com, a leading marketplace of dental savings plans operating since 1999, makes it easy to find the right savings plan to make quality oral health affordable regardless of insurance status.  

Oral Health Is More Important Than You Might Think

While it’s not classified as essential, the data proves that oral health is extremely important to our overall health. Bacteria and inflammation that start in the mouth can also spread to other areas and contribute to other health problems like heart disease, poor pregnancy outcomes and pneumonia. Chronic health conditions like diabetes and osteoporosis have also been linked to increased risk for gum disease and tooth decay.

Physical health aside, missing teeth and other signs of poor oral health can hurt a person’s financial and social well-being, too. According to the American Dental Association, 30% of low-income adults face limitations in job interviews due to the condition of their mouth and teeth.

Dental Savings Plans Help Make Improved Oral Health More Accessible

Despite the growing body of research that shows how important oral health is to a person’s overall health and quality of life, dental care is still not covered by original Medicare and most state Medicaid programs include either no coverage at all, limited coverage for emergency care only, or coverage that’s capped at low annual maximums. In states that do provide coverage, those annual maximums range from just $500 in Arkansas up to $1,150 in Alaska. Even most private dental plans come with annual maximums that cap out at under $2,000 on average. 

Those annual limits are rarely enough to cover the full cost of even one big ticket procedure, like dental implants or root canals. As a result, adults who need anything beyond routine cleanings and exams either have to foot the bill for dental work themselves or look for supplemental plans to cover this gap in coverage. 

That’s where DentalPlans.com comes in. The dental savings plans marketplace provides a searchable database where visitors can find a dental savings plan that offers savings at their preferred dentist or discounts for the specific procedure they need. 

In exchange for a low annual membership fee, plan members of a dental savings plan enjoy discounts of between 10% to 60% off of the full price of dental procedures ranging from routine cleanings and exams to more specialized restorative and orthodontic procedures. 

More than 140,000 dentists, representing over 70% of practicing dentists in the United States, participate in dental savings plans. Once they join, a plan member simply has to show their membership card at the participating dentist’s office to get the discounted rate.  Plans activate quickly and there are no annual limits or restrictions based on current health conditions. 

In one example provided on the site, a family of two adults and two children pays an annual family membership fee of $209.95 for the Careington Care 500 Series savings plan. Without the plan, a routine six-month checkup would cost $73 per person, a teeth cleaning visit would cost $122 per adult and $84 per child, and x-rays would cost $80 per person. That means the standard preventative care recommended would cost $1,316 for the family without insurance. 

With the example savings plan, a routine six-month checkup costs $19 per person, a teeth cleaning visit costs $39 per adult and $31 per child, and x-rays cost $21 per person. Those discounts bring the total cost for the family down to $396, representing over 55% savings even when you add the annual membership fee back in.

Sample savings are based on zip code 43614, actual costs and savings may vary by service and geographical area.

If anyone in that family also needed restorative care like fillings, crowns, or root canals, their dental savings plan would allow them to save hundreds or thousands on those more expensive and very important procedures. 

For those without dental insurance, a dental savings plan can make essential preventative care affordable and substantially lower the cost of restorative and emergency dental care. 

For those with dental insurance, the discounts that come with membership can help lower the out-of-pocket costs they are responsible for after they surpass their insurance plan’s annual maximum. While the two can’t be used on the same procedure, dentists can help patients who need multiple procedures (such as a root canal followed by a crown and filling) coordinate a care plan that maximizes their insurance coverage and their dental savings plan discounts. 

To learn more visit DentalPlans.com

Featured Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels

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