Many people think, wrongly, that their health insurance plans cover everything they need for their teeth. Even though some health insurance plans, like HMOs, may cover some dental care, the average health insurance plan won't cover most of your dental needs. In fact, you might find that your dental insurance plan doesn't cover all of your real dental costs. Supplemental dental insurance can help pay for out-of-pocket costs or help you save money on dental care by letting you join different dental plans.
Supplemental dental insurance is not meant to be your main dental insurance. Instead, it's meant to help you pay for dental costs that may not be covered by your main health or dental insurance. There are many different kinds of dental insurance supplement plans, but they can all be put into a few main groups.
Plans for dental discounts
A dental discount plan is meant to lower the cost of dental care by using the large number of its members to get lower prices for its members. Discount dental plans are not dental insurance, but they do lower the cost of your dental care by giving you the savings. When you get your dental care and services from their member dentists, you save money. When you pay, you show your member card for your dental discount plan and are charged the member price. A discount dental plan can cost as little as $5 per month per person.
Student Dental Plans at a Discount
Because college students often lose dental and health coverage on their parents' dental plans when they turn 18, many colleges have decided to offer discounted student dental plans to their registered students. Most of the time, the discounted plans only cover limited services, like cleanings, x-rays, fluoride treatments, routine fillings, and pain relief from emergency dental care. The extra dental insurance policy may pay for all of the services or may ask for a small co-payment. Most student dental insurance costs are low, ranging from $125 to $175 per student.
Preferred Provider Network for Dental Insurance
A preferred provider network is a type of dental insurance plan that many people choose. With a preferred provider plan, you can get dental care from any dentist in the network, and you can change dentists whenever you want. The dental insurance plan pays a fixed flat fee for any service, and you pay the rest. Most of the time, it costs $15–$20 per month.
