Dental Insurance or discount plans which should you choose?

Dental Insurance or discount dental plans both have a place, it depends on your situation and dental needs which will be a better value for your circumstance.

If you have a job, where you can buy group dental insurance through your employer at a subsidized price, this is almost always going to be your best value to buy a dental plan.

Dental insurance usually comes in two choices either PPO or DMO.

PPO plans:

1. Gives you the ability to use plan dentists or non plan dentists.
2. Using plan dentists usually gives you much more coverage ( less out of pocket expenses ) than using non plan dentists.
3. PPO's usually will have a maximum benefit that each person can use per year ( $1000, $1500, $2000 or $3000 ) Once an insurance company pays out the maximum, the plan benefits end for that year.
4. PPO's usually have a good network of in network providers available to choose from. However should you use a non plan dentist the plan will pay a non plan dentist or the member a percentage of the dental bills.
5. PPO's will either pay out a maximum allowable charge or Usual, customary and reasonable fees. The better benefit is the Usual, customary and Reasonable fee schedule. You need to check with your dentist if they will accept the insurance companies payments in advance or you can have a rude awakening of unexpected bills from out of network dentists.
6. PPO's will in many cases have a waiting period for major services, The waiting periods can be 6 months, 9 months or one year.
7. PPO's typically have a co insurance percentage for all covered services( you will owe a percentage of the bill )
8. Usually included 2 free exams, cleanings and x rays per year.

DMO plans:

1. You must use plan dentists for coverage.
2. If you use a dentist out of the plan you will have no coverage ( except emergencies, limited coverage may be available ).
3. In many cases the DMO plans will have unlimited benefits and no waiting periods for all covered services.
4. DMO's typically have much smaller networks of dentists to choose from.
5. DMO's typically have a stated co payment amount for all services.
6. DMO plans are usually less expensive than PPO plans, the reason is the smaller network of dentists you must choose from.
7. Usually included 2 free exams, cleanings and x rays per year.

If you don't have the ability to buy a dental plan through your job your best value may be buying a discount dental plan.

Discount dental plans:

1. Have fairly large networks of dentists to choose from.
2. Usually have unlimited benefits and no waiting periods.
3. Have discounts for all dental services ( usually 40 to 60% discounts )
4. Cost only a fraction of the cost to buy compared to PPO's and DMO insured plans.
5. Ususally a stated co payment for all covered services.
6. Deeply discounted exams, xrays and cleanings usually included.

If you are interested in comparing the top discount dental plans please visit Dentalplans.com This is our affiliate site for discount dental plans. If you want to purchase or have questions about group or individual PPO or DMO dental plans please contact Cliff Grekin at nysmallgroupplans.com for more information or customized quotes.

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