Affordable Dental Insurance

I recently needed cheap dental insurance for my wife and me, and found there are lots terms you need to be familiar with to make good choices.

Plans available often include:

1. You are restricted to only their dentists.  When you do you are guaranteed a fixed rate they negotiated with the dentist.  This plan is often called Premier or Premium.
2. You can go to any dentist.  If you to choose this one you get a fixed rate if they negotiated with the dentist if you go to the dentists in this plan, otherwise you get have to pay the difference between what your dentist charges you and what the plan has negotiated with dentists in the plan.  Note that the rates they negotiated with these dentists are higher than the rates they negotiated with the dentists in the previous plan. This plan is almost always called PPO.
3. A combination of the above two.  If the dentist you happen to go to is from group 1, you get that rate, if it’s from group 2, you get that rate, otherwise you pay the difference between the group 2 rate and what your dentist charges you.  This plan is often called something like usually something like PPO Plus or PPO Enhanced.
4. A top of the line PPO plan. Often called a gold plan.  Pays a percentage of your costs after a deductible.
5. You are restricted to a very few dentists.  This is the dental equivalent of a health maintenance organization, and so is called a Dental Health Maintenance Organization, naturally.
6. You pay directly to a dentist who has agreed to a reduced, but not negotiated rate.  This is normally called something Patent Direct or Dentist Discount Direct.
7. You buy a Dental Discount card and show it when you seek dental services, and you will receive a discount on the services if the dentist participates in the discount plan.  This is usually a rock bottom price plan that may or may not save you money, but is sometimes better than nothing.

Typical Yearly Costs for Dental Plans

Note that insurance varies by state, as insurance companies are not allowed to compete nationally.  The costs quoted before are specifically for Texas and vary considerably from this for your state, but the relative differences between the different plans should be about the same.

Plan 1:  Individual: $90, Individual and Spouse: $150 Individual and Family: $200:00

Plan 2:  Individual: $200, Individual and Spouse: $400 Individual and Family: $200:00/person

Plan 3: Could not find costs on this one

Plan 4: Individual: $300, Individual and Spouse: $550 Individual and Family: $800:00

Plan 5:  Individual: $70, Individual and Spouse: $130 Individual and Family: $170:00

Plan 6: Individual: $130, Individual and Spouse: $190 Individual and Family: $275:00

Plan 7: Individual: $50, Individual and Spouse: $100 Individual and Family: $130:00

Since these plans are not all offered by the same company there is a lot price overlap on the polices, and some that look like they should cost less than others ended up costing more because they were by different providers.  These numbers are only provided as an idea as to costs, and should not be taken to be the costs you will actually encounter when you go to look for dental insurance.  Because companies differ by states, some companies will not even be represented in all states, and some are only available in one state.