Difference between Dental Plans and Dental Insurance

All About Discount Dental Plans
Discount dental plans are a convenient and efficient way to make dental care affordable. These plans make it possible for individuals, families, and groups to visit participating dental care providers and pay a discounted fee as payment-in-full for any services performed. It should be noted that discount dental plans are not dental insurance plans. Discount dental plans are solely discount programs that allow members to receive dental services at participating locations for a reduced cost.

Members who are part of discount dental plans often save between 10 percent and 60 percent on standard dental care needs. In these uncertain economic times, family plans are growing in popularity, and most plans can be modified to meet any specialty dental needs that individuals or groups may have. Additionally, there are over 100,000 participating dentist listings who have already agreed to accept these plans to make it easy to find services in your hometown.

Discount Dental Plans Versus Dental Insurance
Discount dental plans work differently from traditional insurance. While dental insurance also has various options to reduce dental and oral care, it is important to make informed choices in order to get the coverage best suited for your individual, family, or business needs. The following are descriptions of various dental insurance options that are typically offered, and how they compare to discount dental plans.

PPO Dental Insurance
Dental preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, are the most flexible dental insurance option, which makes them a widely popular choice. Typically, those organizations network with a number of dentists under contract to provide members with special rates at participating dental care providers. Members can choose to select primary dentists and dental specialists from outside of the PPO network also, but this is more costly because the special rates do not apply. PPOs are considered to be the type of dental insurance which empowers the insured member with the most choice in selecting their dental care.

However, PPO premiums are usually higher than other dental insurances. In addition to being more costly, PPOs also have a number of claim forms that need to be filled out before reimbursements for services covered by the insurance can be received. When getting dental services done, members must pay a deductible before obtaining reimbursement, and often also need to make co-payments to their provider because PPOs typically only cover a portion of each visit. In spite of tedious paperwork and higher costs, PPOs remain popular options because they allow members the most choice in dentists.

HMO Dental Insurance
Dental health maintenance organizations, or DHMOs, provide a more affordable option to other dental insurances. Like PPOs, DHMOs work with a network of contracted dental service providers who offer their services to members at pre-determined rates. Dental HMOs are appealing to many members who are looking for a low cost insurance.

Unlike PPOs, members in a dental HMO have little choice in the dental care providers. There are strict restrictions on members and they must choose a dentist on a pre-approved list in order to receive any reimbursement for services. All other specialists that may be needed must have referral from the pre-approved primary dentist. Dentists who are part of HMOs are also required to schedule a set amount of insured members each day. This can lessen the amount of individual time each member receives from their dentists and degrade the quality of the experience for them. HMOs also have tedious claims paperwork and additional referral procedures that they must go through to be in compliance with the HMO rules.

Dental Indemnity Insurance
Dental Indemnity Insurance is a third option for dental service needs. This type of plan has a fee-for-services structure where members pay their dental care providers directly for service and are reimbursed by the insurance company at a later time. Because of this arrangement, members are free to choose their own dental provider, switch providers easily, and do not need to worry about choosing specific providers in a network.

Members with dental indemnity insurance often have to deal with complex claim forms for reimbursement, which often leads to long waiting periods to receive the covered compensation. Members may also find it difficult to pay up front for costly procedures, and are expected to pay the difference in the case that the reimbursement does not cover the entire dentist’s fee. Premiums for dental indemnity insurance are expensive and have high annual deductibles that members should be aware about.

Discount Dental Plans
Discount dental plans are not insurance plans and work differently to offer an affordable alternate option. With discount dental plans, members can create a customized plan consisting of the procedures they are most likely to use and receive instant discounted prices when services are performed. Dental discount plans can also provide special prices for cosmetic dental procedures like teeth whitening, which are not normally covered under dental insurance.

Instead of monthly premiums, discount dental plan members pay a low annual membership fee. Tedious paperwork and claims forms are not needed because the discount received at participating dental care providers is instant, with no reimbursement process, co-payments, or deductibles involved. Additionally, there are no annual limits on dental discount plans so the procedures chosen for the plan can be used multiple times with the discounted rate throughout the year.

Discount dental plans seek to provide a low cost alternative to standard dental insurance. Those who do not receive dental insurance can buy a membership to a discount dental plan and greatly reduce the out-of-pocket cost of oral maintenance. Most discount dental plans can also be designed to be coordinated with dental insurance coverage, as well.

The Value of Dental Insurance and Dental Discount Plans

Dental benefits are considered as a priority to America’s workforce when considering job offers. Recent studies have found that employees consider the top three benefits a company can offer to be health, retirement, and dental benefits. New employees entering the work force also rank dental benefits highly. The National Association of Colleges and Employers found in a 2006 survey that graduates rated their top three benefits as medical insurance, yearly salary increases, and dental insurance.

This highly sought after benefit is not offered frequently though. 56 percent of the American population is not covered by any type of dental insurance. Without access to affordable dental care, preventive action and maintenance of oral health cannot be taken by many Americans. Thus, a report by the Surgeon General cited that oral and dental problems resulted in the loss of 164 million hours of work and 51 million hours of school.

Despite being highly valued by the workforce, businesses report that dental benefits are one of the first benefits sliced when economic cuts need to be made. With 90 percent of privately insured members reporting that they receive coverage from employers, this could have devastating effects when combined with the already gaping difference between dental benefit supply and demand.

Thus, many employers, especially small business owners, have begun a trend called “consumerism,” where the expense of dental plans is placed upon the employee instead. In this way, dental benefits can still be offered to employees by a company without the added costs involved.

Discount dental plans are better suited to meet the needs of consumerism than traditional dental insurance plans. Many employers have already noticed this fact and opted for discount dental plans in recent years. Dental discounts plans often do not have a minimum participation requirement, which allows individuals like dependents, part-time employees, and retirees to obtain dental benefits which are expensive to offer under dental insurance. Additionally, the discount dental plans are customizable so each employee can get individualized benefits they need. In this way, companies can provide a low cost access to dental service providers for employees at minimal costs to themselves.

Dental Insurance. Dental Discount Plan. What’s the Difference?
Oral health is essential to quality of life. Obtaining dental insurance or a dental discount plan is an easy way to ensure that dental and oral health can be maintained. When choosing dental benefits, it is important to know the differences in the types of plans so all individualized needs are met. Traditionally, all dental insurance plans can be recognized by characteristics like monthly premiums, deductibles, and annual maximums. Each of these equates mounting costs that an insured individual must pay to the insurance company. With a dental discount plan, none of these things exist, which makes them accessible to a wide variety of members.

Without monthly premiums, dental discount plan members save hundreds of dollars a year. Insurance premiums can run upwards of $30 for individuals and $100 for families a month. The annual fee of a dental discount plan is a sensible, money-saving alternative to high premiums.

Those with dental insurance typically need to meet a deductible of anywhere from $25-50 per person covered before the insurance company begins to cover dental services. Dental discount plans do not have the added cost of deductibles. It is still solely the annual membership fee, and discounted rates can instantly be received at all participating dental providers.

Typically, the maximum annual reimbursement insured members can receive from their dental insurance plan is between $1,000-1,500. After the cap is reached, individuals are expected to pay for all other dental expenses. As discount dental plans have no restrictions on the amount of times members can utilize the services they choose for their customized plans, the plans can be used as frequently as needed throughout the year. The same discounted rate at each participating location is always redeemable during the membership period.

Time is money. On top of all the limitations that come with caps and deductibles, dental insurance often comes with mountains of complex paperwork for claims, strict restrictions, and long waiting periods for reimbursement. Discount dental insurance values the time of its members and attempts to make the dental benefits process as convenient and quick as possible.

Dental discount plans require no paperwork to be submitted because the discounts are automatically given when a membership card is presented to a participating dental care provider doing services. This also means no waiting period that dental insurance companies often impose. Discount dental insurance members know exactly how much they will be paying in full at their dentist and see their savings instantly. Traditional insurance often has strict restrictions on the type of procedures that are covered. In contrast, discount dental insurance can be used for cosmetic dentistry like veneers or specialties like orthodontics that are rarely covered with dental insurance.

In the spirit of accessibility, discount dental plans are available directly to individuals, families, and other groups without needing to be provided by employers. Dental insurance is most affordable when it is offered through a company, but with many companies looking to cut corners, benefits are being decreased as insurance premiums continue to rise. A company can offer discount dental plans or individuals can seek them out on their own to obtain the dental benefits essential to healthy lifestyle.