dentist

[lopper]

my pal is thinking of taking out
dental insurance
would he have to pay the dentist
or does the insurance company pay
does he have any paper work from the ins company
for the dentist to sign
thank u

[happy_face]

Insurance companies like HSA etc need you to pay your dentist and then collect the receipts. When all the treatment is completed that you want to claim for ask the dentist to complete his/her section on your claim form. You may have to leave it with them and collect the next day. Then you send the claim form with your receipts to the insurance company. And Bob's your uncle. Remember that a lot of insurance companies have a quarantine period so you can't claim anything in the first 1-6 months.

Hope this has helped

[lopper]

hello h f
thanks a lot for your nice reply
yes your info
is very helpful
thank you

[happy_face]

you're most welcome ;-)

[MrXLA]

Hiya lopper,

Has your friend considered joining a practice which is run with something like DenPlan? Basically you pay a monthly fee as you would with a typical insurance company, within that fee (and this is highly variable) check-ups, scalings and routine fillings, extractions, x-rays as well as root canal fillings are usually covered. Depending on the practice if you require anything that involves lab. work (crowns, bridges, dentures etc..) you then foot the lab. bill, but the actual work in the surgery is covered. You go for an initial assessment and are placed in a 'band' depending on how much existing dental work has been done e.g. if you have 10 fillings you are in a higher band than someone with only 1 or none and so the monthly fee varies accordingly. Might be worth considering, as it could work out cheaper than insurance. Id advise shopping around to get the best deal.

[iluvcatz]

MrXLA has explained DenPlan really well. I have been with them for about 10 years and have nothing but praise. I am lucky enough to have a DenPlan dentist in my village. All the staff at the practice are great. The amount of time you get in the chair for check-ups is longer than with NHS and you really feel you are getting good care and value for money.

[sense4all]

We have dental thro' hubbies co.We pay, get receipt and have dentist fill in claim form and promptly get reimbursed.

[buildersmate]

Perhaps I could offer an alternative and cynical view of DenPlan? I'm sure it DOES work well, but it is just an 'captive' insurance policy instead of pay-as-you-go. Since it is the dentist that assesses what 'band' of payment you will be in, the dentist will be assessing the premium that is paid. And the since the scheme has to make a profit, the average man / woman seeing the dentist is paying somewhere in the premium for all those overheads. Now I know that it true of any insurance - you pay your premium in exchange for comfort in case of catastrophre. But the difference with dental care the potential catastrophre is not great - maybe 2x the ANNUAL PREMIUM. If I write off my car (which I don't do very often) my insurer might have a fund 30x my annual premium.

So why do people buy DenPlan?

[MrXLA]

Before I defend DenPlan, I'd like to assure you I don't work for them, and dont agree entirely with their system. Many people only attend a dentist when in pain, what's wrong with that I hear you cry? Well the fact is that much of dental disease can be managed or prevented if caught early enough. Some patients (myself included) prefer having regular check-ups and minimal intervention as opposed to going once every few years with an abscess and a tooth that needs yarding out. In an ideal world we could all have access to an NHS dentist and regular check-ups it would be better for us and better for the dentists. This therefore unfortunately creates a need for organisations such as DenPlan. It's one way (not necessarily the best!) to have a preventitive approach to dentistry which is somewhere in between the NHS and 'pure private'. The banding system in my mind is a relatively good idea, if you have several fillings or crowns, they will need replacing sooner or later (nothing in dentistry can last forever!) therefore you are more likely to need extensive work and time in the chair. An insurance company would only pay at so many times within a given period, they would not cover everything and after claiming Im sure the premium would go up. But then you are more likely to need dental treatment as time goes on, so you'd probably end up paying higher premiums each year.