THE WOES OF INSURANCE

Insurance in the dental world is very tricky. Are you "in network" or "out of network" ? This all depends on your employer's choice of insurance plans for their employees. To complicate matters, there are PPO's and HMO's. Some dental insurance plans "contract" with dentists to set their fees for their services. The fees are, generally, very low and these dental offices need to have many more patients to maintain their practice. The special "one-on-one" service cannot be maintained simply because the office has to treat more patients per day. On the other spectrum, there are dental offices which are "fee for service." Usually, very high-end practices, great customer service and you pay in full at the time of your treatment. The dental office will give you the forms to send to your insurance company or they may submit for you. Our practice lies midway between the two extreme examples with our one goal being one-on-one treatment and high customer service. To put it humorously, we provide services like Neiman's or Sak's and price-point like Macy's or Bloomingdale's. We take insurance, but not all insurances, since some have such low contracting fees, we do not want to lose touch with our patients by treating in numbers. The one big item to get out of this short blog is to know the type of dental coverage your company offers you. When there are changes in the policy, let the dental office know a week or so before you go into their office, so it can be researched to understand what the changes mean to you and the bottom line of cost. Take time to discuss your plan with your dental office and understand how your plan works. Each treatment has a dental code and paid at different rates. For instance.... preventive care, basic care, and major work. A regular cleaning may be paid at 100% since it is preventive care, but a deep cleaning may be paid at 80% after a deductible. So, it can get tricky. Be proactive, find out your dental needs, and ask questions to your dental team. I hope these blogs are helpful. I enjoy your comments and questions.