My Dental Insurance Bites
You’ve heard the expression “the cobbler’s children have no shoes?” Well, I’m the daughter of a dentist, and have a mouth full of amalgam fillings. It’s not his fault, of course – it was a genetic predisposition for weak enamel, combined with a very large sweet tooth that ravished my molars in childhood.
My dad, who died in 2003, was an amazing person, and an excellent dentist. Most silver fillings last around 15 years, and I have a few that are going on 30. The problem is, they are now falling out left and right, and so are my husband’s. And we have really lame dental insurance.
Lame, as in, the checkup and x-rays are covered and that’s it. (You get a slight discount – the filling that would normally be $200 is $160. The crown that would normally be $1,600 is $1,200.) Lame, as in, you get to choose from a list of three dentists in your area who accept the plan, one of whom gave my four-year-old a filling with no novocaine and a lifetime fear of the dentist. (That filling subsequently fell out, and now she needs a root canal.) I’d like to sue that dentist. I really miss my dad.
We have spent literally thousands of dollars on dental work this year. I spoke with my health insurance broker, who said at least eight people need to be enrolled in a plan to get decent benefits. The scariest part is you don’t really know who you can trust. A few years back, a dentist on the west coast told my sister she had a gum problem and needed lots of work. My dad talked to her about it by phone and told her to dump the dentist. The next guy confirmed there was nothing wrong with her gums. My husband finally decided to have his work done in New York City by a guy he played basketball with for 15 years. I am thinking about volunteering to be a guinea pig for a nearby dental school. Any suggestions on managing painful dental bills?
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September 7th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Move to Australia.
That is the best advice I can give you. Unfortunately, I am moving to the USA soon, as my soon-to-be-wife is an American.
On a recent trip to a major hospital here, I spoke to a senior Doctor who had worked in the UK, the USA and now Australia.
He gave me some simple advice – don’t ever let yourself become a patient in the US healthcare industry. Not simply for the cost, but because of the standard of care.
This doctor told me that he worked in Virginia, but when he became sick, he flew back to Australia rather than allow himself to be treated in the USA.
He commented that the top 5% of Doctors in the USA are the best in the world. The next 40 or 50% are avearge. However, the lowest 40% would not be allowed to practice in other civilised countries.
After seeing Sico and hearing the sincerity in his voice, I am inclined to believe him.
How is it the richest country in the world, spends the most and has the worst healthcare system??? If the free market and profit motive was going to work (and it has had 30 years to do so), the USA would have the best medical system in the world right now. Instead, it is the laughing stock. Clearly it has failed.
My heart goes out to you – you should never have to question if you are receiving the correct medical care or simply making up numbers on a balance sheet. Perhaps if the profit motive was removed, the standard of care would improve.
Best wishes,
Phil
September 7th, 2007 at 9:20 am
BTW:
If I get sick, I can fly back to Australia, catch a taxi to the hospital, and be admitted IMMEDIATELY. No questions asked and no expensive bill at the end. I think I may even be able to fly to the UK for treatment (I believe with have a treaty for mutual treatment of citizens).
It is not a perfect system – dental is not covered by the public system. However, a few weeks ago I had a clean and scale, two fillings, and a wisdom tooth removed, which took two visits for a total of approximately 1.5 hours in the chair – all for the cost of around US$400. This was without any form of healthcare insurance.
The extra costs you are paying in the USA is for the profits of the middle men – the insurance brokers, the insurance companies, the lobbyists etc etc etc.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
My husband was not born in the US. So when it looked as if he needed about $12,000 worth of dental, we paid for a trip to the home country. Plane ticket, gifts and 5 root canals and other stuff cost about $2000.
Like you, he was born with a complicated mouth, but I watch him carefully as dental health is so critical to successful and healthy aging.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Unfortunately what you bought wasn’t insurance. It was a way of locking you into their office for a year by making you think you were getting a good deal. You paid for those X-rays and and checkup when you signed up. The discounted price you quote for a crown is out of line with even here in California!
Welcome to the world of dentistry. A profession with no oversight, and until there is you will have the kinds of difficulties you describe. Your only choice is to educate yourself, I did using the internet and it has worked for me.
Now I can tell when I they want to overtreat or fudge the price of treatment. I cannot be bluffed anymore!
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:34 am
I have been in very much the same situation – thousands of dollars of needed dental work have finally caught up with me. Two points to consider here: 1) Dental work is stressfull enough. To me it’s worth the extra money to find someone I trust to do the work. I have done that and, if fact, when a dental assistant screwed up some work, I let the doc know it and told him, in no uncertain terms, that that assistant wasn’t going to put her hands in my mounth again! I hadn’t been the only complaint and she was subsequently replaced. A subset of this is that I insist on having EVERYTHING explained to me; if I can’t understand it, he can’t do it until I can. (I’m the same way with car repairs.) If I’m going to spend money, show me what I’m getting for my dollar. 2) My insurance pays for x-rays and cleaning only so my approach was something like this: First, the insurance company was billed ONLY for what they’d pay for – they don’t need to know anything else, thank you. Next, the practice offered a financing plan – 18 months with no interest through GE Credit – and they’ve been billing in batches. I took this option and, while my credit score took a temporary hit, it’s worth it to me to have my money *earning interest while I pay off the bill. Finally, if your employer offers it, sign up for a Flexible Savings Plan. This will allow you to get the tax advantages of taking a medical deduction without any income-based floor and without the need to itemize. So, if you’re in the 25% tax bracket, you’ll be saving $.25 on the dollar in income tax. It doesn’t reduce the dental bill itself, but it can make it slightly less painful.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
The prices of UK dental work continue to astound me. Take a look at Private Dentist Prices. There you can see you could be paying thousands of pounds for pretty simple treatment. Although I did find something else on the web showing that prices have dropped around 20% over the last 3 years. Still expensive, but at least slightly less so!