The Pros And Cons Of Private Dental Insurance

Dental Insurance, Private Comments Off

What is private dental insurance?

Private dental insurance, also known as personal dental insurance, is a type of insurance that you obtain on your own, rather than one that is provided by your employer. In this agreement between the buyer (you) and the seller (insurance company) it states that the seller agrees to pay a high percentage of the dental needs of the buyer. In other words if you have a dental procedure done your insurance company will cover the bulk of the cost of the work. Because dental work is so expensive and often uncovered by company plans, many people opt to get insurance privately as this will alleviate much of the costs. You do have to pay a certain amount each month however this is a small investment to ensure that you and your loved ones will have the proper dental care they need.

Typically, those who get private insurance are those who are self employed or who work for small business that don’t have insurance plans for their employees. All sorts of plans are available, from dental and vision insurance combos, to cosmetic dentistry packages, to full coverage dental insurance.

Private dental insurance sounds great– so why doesn’t everyone go this route?

The first main problem is the reputation it has of being expensive. It can be on the more expensive side however it really depends on the plan that you choose for you and your family. Because it’s private and you aren’t part of a group the costs are all greater. However, there are different options to look into and you need to see what your family requires.

Additionally, with private dental insurance there is a limited choice of dentists. Each private insurance company has specific dentists who work within the plan. You can only use these specific dentists. If you don’t yet have a dentist or your dentist is within the network then you can easily choose one of the ones that is on your plan. If however, you already have a dentist who is not in the network, you won’t necessarily save by having the insurance, as the cost is quite high to use a dentist out of the network.

As with all insurance it is so crucial to really weigh what your individual needs are and what your costs would be with having insurance versus if you were uninsured. Even though for some people the costs of care would be less or comparable to what they are paying if they had insurance, it still could be beneficial to have the insurance for a few reasons. First of all, if suddenly a major dental need comes up you usually aren’t covered for at least three months or sometimes not for a year. Second of all, if you do not have resources to pay out of pocket for a procedure then it could be in your best interest to pay the insurance companies a small amount each month to be covered in such situations. But again, it can not be emphasized enough the importance of figuring out your own individual needs and what the different insurance companies are offering before you decide.

Overall, private insurance is typically shunned because of it’s reputation of being expensive. Nevertheless, each person must weigh the pros and cons for themselves to see if it is worthwhile for their personal needs.

Dustin Reynolds @ November 10, 2009