Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?
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Knowing the effects that periodontal disease has on overall health, why is dental care considered separate and requiring separate insurance?
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Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Hence dental insurance is basically a buyer’s discount club.
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
Yes, that is what it looks like to me, a few freebies and reduced rates.
I go every 6 months for checkups and I buy everything they recommend.
I come close to breaking even. I bet most people don't use a lot of the benefits. I didn't care as much when work was paying for it, but once it came out of my pocket I paid closer attention.
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Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Hence dental insurance is basically a buyer’s discount club.
@jon-nyc said in Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?:
Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Hence dental insurance is basically a buyer’s discount club.
Depends.
Some of the better policies have riders about how much work, how soon. Others have significant caps and sliding scales (more you use them, the less % they pay).
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When I was a kid growing up in the UK (I know, I know, British dentistry), it was all covered under the NHS, then the Thatcher government "reformed" it. I had a friend who was an NHS dentist who said they deliberately made it so complicated and unprofitable that it became more trouble than it was worth, and large numbers of dentists went private.
My insurance works pretty well now, as long as I have healthy teeth. The co-pays for anything significant are horrendous. I had my one dodgy tooth crowned (I have other good teeth, not just the one) a while back - not only did they charge me up the wazoo, but the anesthetic didn't work. What a wonderful day that was. No refund, sadly.
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Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Hence dental insurance is basically a buyer’s discount club.
@jon-nyc said in Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?:
Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Our experience with our kids and the kids of many acquaintances: If your child is 10-14 years old and you send him or her to an orthodentist, your child will in 100% of the cases end up with some kind of dental brace, and the procedure will always cost around $10K. It's like a law.
Oh, and in many cases, if you don't send your kid to the orthodentist and skip the braces, nothing really bad will happen either.
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@jon-nyc said in Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?:
Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Our experience with our kids and the kids of many acquaintances: If your child is 10-14 years old and you send him or her to an orthodentist, your child will in 100% of the cases end up with some kind of dental brace, and the procedure will always cost around $10K. It's like a law.
Oh, and in many cases, if you don't send your kid to the orthodentist and skip the braces, nothing really bad will happen either.
@Klaus said in Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?:
@jon-nyc said in Why in this day and age is dental work not covered by medical insurance?:
Too easy to game.
I heard a dentist once say the average middle aged American has 50k of unperformed dental work in his mouth. It would be too easy to insure yourself for a year, get many thousands of work, and cancel.
Our experience with our kids and the kids of many acquaintances: If your child is 10-14 years old and you send him or her to an orthodentist, your child will in 100% of the cases end up with some kind of dental brace, and the procedure will always cost around $10K. It's like a law.
Mine gets braces next month. lol
