If you’ve been grinding your teeth in frustration trying to come up with some sort of plan that will take the bite out of soaring dental costs for yourself, your family or your employees, a card may be the solution.
No, not a “my sympathies on your painfully expensive root canal,” card. Not even Hallmark has come up with that one yet. I mean a wallet-sized card you’ll get when you sign on to a dental discount plan that can save you 10 to 60 percent on the going rate of dental services.
NOT INSURANCE
Providing a dental discount card to your employees is a thoughtful benefit. It can make employees feel valued, and it can pay off in the long run for the business if it encourages people to get regular dental care instead of avoiding it because of the cost. Ignoring oral health can cause bigger health problems down the road, so an hour away for a cleaning today beats days of work missed down the road due to serious illness. Plus, like any other benefit a company provides, the cost of the discount cards is usually tax deductible, depending on how your business is set up.
As insurance costs skyrocket, more and more companies are cutting back on employee benefits or eliminating them entirely. And of course, self-employed people must provide their own coverage. A discount card is a way for the self-employed to save money on out-of-pocket costs or for a small company that can’t afford to offer health insurance to do something to help employees out when it comes to health care.
To be clear, a discount plan is not insurance. It’s more like a warehouse club membership. You pay Sam’s Club or Costco an annual membership fee, and in return you get the privilege of saving money there on food and supplies throughout the year. Dental discount plans work the same way. In both cases, the goal is to save more than you spend.
The annual membership fee for a dental discount plan is usually between $50 and $150 a year for singles, $100 to $200 for families. Often, the plans provide discounts on services not typically covered by insurance, such as cosmetic procedures. There is usually no waiting period and no denying anyone for a preexisting condition, so if you know you need thousands of dollars in dental work soon, you can sign up and save hundreds immediately. There are also no deductibles to meet and no cap on how much the plan can be used.
CHECK IT OUT
An easy way to shop for a dental discount plan is to go online to comparison sites like www.dentalinsurance.com and www.dental plans.com. Don’t sign on to a plan until you know there are dentists in your area who participate. It varies throughout the country. Some regions have scores of dentists who are part of discount programs, but in other areas it can be rare.
The comparison sites allow you to see more than one plan at a time and search for providers by typing in your ZIP code. You can find dentists in your area who accept the plans and see what their discounted rates are for services like exams, cleanings, X-rays, fillings, crowns, root canals and dentures. This will help you gauge the potential savings and decide if a card is worth the cost.
Many people will have to switch providers to take advantage of a discount plan. Consult with employees and see how willing they are to switch before purchasing cards for them. It would be a waste to spend $100 on a card that goes unused because the employee is unwilling to switch dentists.
There have been cases of fraudulent companies selling discount cards. To know you are dealing with a legitimate business, look for a 30-day, money-back guarantee. Also, call some of the providers listed to make sure they still participate, are taking new patients, and specifically how much of a discount a card entitles the holder to on specific services.
Be aware that orthodontia, cosmetic procedures, oral surgery and some other procedures may require a specialist outside of the general dentistry field. A card may not entitle you to a discount with these providers. If you foresee braces or whitening in the future, you may have to shop around more for plans and providers.
Also, before you sign on the dotted line, it may be a good idea to check with your state insurance commissioner to make sure the company is registered in your state. You can find your state’s department of insurance on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Web site, www.naic.org.
WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?
When considering a discount plan, you may wonder why a reputable dentist would participate in such a program. If a filling is typically $173, but discount plan members pay $112, that’s $61 less in the dentist’s pocket, right? Why would anyone agree to accept less than his or her standard fees? Because it brings in customers they might not ordinarily see. In a way, it’s a form of advertising for the dentist, like a coupon. It helps them grow their practice.
It also helps the dental clinic with cash flow. To get the discounted price, patients must pay at the time of service. It’s less hassle for the provider than sending in a claim to an insurance company and waiting for payment. Dentists have accounting issues and expenses to meet like any other business.
In a perfect world, of course, dentists, portable restroom operators and every other business would always be busy with customers paying full freight. We’d all have luxury health and dental insurance plans, too, which would cover every office visit and procedure 100 percent. But in today’s economy, where costs are exorbitant and the future uncertain, accepting or using a discount card may be a valuable compromise.
