Which dental plan should I select when enrolling? I need to probably get teeth cleaning, whitening, wisdom teeth removal and Invisalign.
Do you guys know which one would be the best beneficial for me, as I don't want too pay too much out of pocket? and is there a period of time you need to have the dental insurance for before u starting using the benefits?
@2poa, I’ve had a root canal and a crown done in the last year. I have the Dental HMO insurance and believe me, it didn’t cost me but about $900 total out of pocket. The billed retail cost to the insurance company from the Orthodontist, the lab and my dentist was only about $2,500. The negotiated charges were a bit more than 1,500. So, I don’t know who ripped you off at $5,000 but quite seeing that thief dentist asap.
Maximum coverage for the year from PPO is $2K. So is not like you will go bankrupt.
Skipping insurance is a huge money saver right up until you crack a tooth and need a $5000 root canal and crown.
You’re almost better forgoing the dental insurance and simply putting that money in HSA or investing it.
Run the numbers, especially if you’re considering the PPO. You might come out cheaper paying for two cleanings a year out-of-pocket at a dentist of your choice if your teeth are in good shape and you don’t need major work.. Neither plan is going to pay for braces, so be prepared to suck that up.
As subscribers here have noted, HMOs are cheaper if you never need any work done. If that's the case, why not forego the insurance?
Whitening is not covered by dental insurance unless your dentist can come up with something sneaky. It’s considered cosmetic.
We use HMO also add love it. I did Invisalign but don’t remember how much it paid. Anyhow, I didn’t like wearing horrible retainers every night for the rest of my existence so I gave up. Also did laser eye correction. At least that sort of worked.
For me and spouse, the HMO Dental plan has always been our choice. We maintain our teeth and or-l hygiene, so it’s basically two cleanings per year and X-rays for us with no copay. We have had some occasional extra services performed over the years (bridgework, new fillings and root canal and crown). Yes, those extras are not cheap, but they also have a published copay price and I’ve successfully negotiated these copay prices down to an acceptable level each time. The PPO Dental is not a bad plan if you are very particular with getting the dentist you want. Most do accept that insurance, but even with the steep premium that is 3 times higher than the HMO, I find the PPO is very limiting on the total annual spend which the insurance will pay. If you are a person with lots of work to do, I guess you can spread the work over several years to have the insurance pick up most of the costs, but otherwise, the HMO works for us. We have been fortunate to have found a good dental group that’s in the network and who also have a great dentist on staff, professional hygienists and a comfortable office.
None of the plans will pay for invisalign. There's a small orthodontics payment 1 time but you'll pay almost all out of pocket
We always got the cheapest plan. No complaints.
Not everyone has wealthily parents, many people come from low income families
HMO is cheaper if your teeth are all good and you just want you two cleanings a year, but rapidly becomes more expensive if you need anything “done”… the copay on the crown was twice as much. Also only a few dentist accept the HMO plan, mostly the big chains like delta dental and some of the rent a chair shops.
Wisdom teeth... invisalign... shouldn't your parents have taken care of all of that?
Option 1, you pay about 8$ per pay check and have to see specific provider and cannot change and have too many limitations, it is only good if you are 100% sure whatever dentist is allocated to you, you will stick to them otherwise if you are picky or want to see better dentists you cannot
Option 2, you pay about 45$ a month and you can see whoever you want, is this really too hard to chose???? I wonder how you guys got an offer to work with Chevron in the first place, no wonder the company is on downhill!
How could your teeth take so much kicking up to now?
There are no 'existing conditions'.
Go with the POS TwoBee policy.
Every cavity filling means a complimentary fen-tan-el brand suppository.
To ki-l the pain.
Sounds like you need it, my opie chevron fren.
Depends how much choice you want. You'll pay less to participate in the more narrow network, or you can pay more to have greater choice in dental service providers.
HMO is pretty good, and ignore the dislikes.. many haters here for no reason