Is there any good California Dental Insurance?
Posted by Donald Pauli on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 @ 06:41 AM
For small businesses there are several good choices from several good carriers. One of the best has been Delta dental, but many carriers offer good coverage, again for small, medium or large businesses.
What's a good plan for individuals and families? All too often I speak with people who have just come from the dentist and need to have procedures done right now. Too late. All the plans I know of have waiting periods before coverage begins, clever insurance companies.
The dental plans I see offer coverage at a percentage of the bill with a deductible and an annual maximum benefit. This seems clear enough but the devil is in the details.
Some insurers pay a percentage of the dental bill based on "Usual, Customary, and Reasonable" charges UCR. The insurance companies determines it UCR rate based on a geographic area. The area can be all western states. The rub is usually that the UCR is way too low. Lets say you have a new crown that cost $1,300. This insurer says the UCR for this procedure is $800. They will pay their percentage, usually 50% for a crown. You would get $400 against a $1,300 bill less your annual deductible.
Anthem Blue Cross of California goes about coverage a little differently. They offer dental Blue Plans with four levels of coverage. If you want the pan to pay the percentage described in coverage you have to go to a Blue Cross contracted dentist. If you go outside the Blue Cross network of dentists, well here is how they explain it:
When you see a dentist outside the Dental Blue network you will be responsible for any coinsurance, deductible, any amounts over the Maximum Benefit and any amount in excess of the Covered Expense for these services. This is because non-participating Dental Blue dentists have no agreements with us and therefore can charge their usual billed charges for services rendered.
If you've got more questions about health or dental insurance check out our site, www.GreenInsuranceServices.com. Let me know if you've heard how dentists are doing in this economy. Are any dentists lowering their rates or offering incentives to patients? In hard economic times I think a lot of people put off seeing their dentist.