Dental insurance is an investment in your oral health. And like most investments, you want to make sure you get a good return from it.
Here are five ways to help you save time and money by maximizing your dental insurance return.
1. Yearly Maximum
Most dental insurance plans have a limit of how much they will pay in a single benefit year. The start of a new benefit year means that you have a refreshed annual maximum to work with.
Early in the year, determine what your annual maximum is. Then schedule a checkup with your Denturist to have your denture and oral health assessed and discuss any denture work that you may need.
Your Denturist will be able to confirm the costs for treatment and assist you in confirming the portion that your insurer will pay. If the treatment costs are beyond your yearly maximum, your Denturist can help you plan. For example, he may recommend postponing certain treatments until the next year, so that they would be covered under next year’s maximum.
By investigating any needed denture work early in the year, you can ensure that you get the maximum value out of your insurance coverage for the current year.
2. Deductible
Some insurance plans require a deductible to be paid out of pocket before reimbursing you for any dental services. When your plan resets at the start of a new benefit year, your deductible is also reset.
If you have denture work that needs to be done, plan for it early in the year. This will help you ensure that after you meet your deductible, you get the best return from your dental coverage for the year.
If you don’t plan your denture work effectively, you may end up paying your deductible this year for some services and again in future years for the remaining services you could have had done this year. This means you end up paying your deductible more frequently than you need to.
3. Premiums
The premium is the amount paid each month to a benefits plan to purchase dental coverage. For workplace plans, the premium may be paid in part or full by an employer as part of your overall employment benefits package. For other plans, the policyholder pays the premium.
In either case, if monthly premiums are being paid but you never seek denture care, that’s the same as throwing your hard-earned money away.
While you may not require treatment like new dentures or a reline, you should see your Denturist once a year for a checkup. These annual care appointments will help to maintain your oral health, prevent future denture problems, and ensure you are getting good value from your monthly premiums.
4. Fee Increases
The cost of providing denture services is affected by cost increases in materials, equipment, and more. To keep pace, dental associations may raise fees at the beginning of each year.
Undergoing treatment sooner rather than later can help to prevent the impact of such fee increases which would make your treatment costs more expensive.
5. Worsening Denture Problems
A pressure point or sore spot can often be adjusted by your Denturist quickly and at no charge. But if left uncorrected, a sore spot can progress to the point where different and more expensive treatments are required to fix the problem.
Many minor issues – like loosening fit or a small crack in your denture’s acrylic – can expand into larger and more expensive problems if not dealt with quickly. Taking care of the small matters today will ensure that they do not require more costly and extensive treatment in the future.