Dental insurance is normally looked at as an add-on to health insurance, and in a lot of cases it is, but more and more insurance carriers are offering stand-alone dental policies. There is, of course, a great range of benefits and premiums, but this is true with any type of insurance.
A less expensive plan around $15 a month will average two cleanings a year and about $1,000 worth of services. A more expensive plan around $40 a month has no limits to what the company will pay in a year.
For more information on the stand-alone dental insurance plans available in your area, fill out the form below and submit.
If you didn’t contributed the maximum amount to your health savings account (HSA) in 2011, there’s still time. You have until April 17, 2012 to make deposits for the 2011 tax year. The maximum contribution amount is $3,050 for singles and $6,150 for families.
This week is National Consumer Protection Week, so it’s a good time to point out some consumer rights regarding insurance. Insurance policies and fixed annuities come with free-look periods, which is a set number of days the policyholder has to review the policy and determine if it is the right fit. Free-look periods have been around forever, but new consumer rights have recently come into law via health care reform.
Pre-existing Conditions
Children can no longer be excluded from coverage because of a pre-existing health problem.
Adults with pre-existing conditions can seek coverage from the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan.
Insurance Claims
If sick or injured, insurance companies can no longer put a lifetime dollar cap on benefits.
There is a new appeal process if an insurer denies a claim. After the second denial, consumers have the right to an outside, independent review.
Insurance Companies
Insurance companies must spend 80 or 85 percent or more of premiums on health benefits and quality improvements, instead of for non-health expenses, such as overhead and advertising. This is great news for consumers because if the 80 to 85 percent standard is not met, the insurance company is writing you a rebate check!
Insurers that propose to raise premiums by 10 percent or more may now be required to publicly justify these increases.
Know your rights and never be afraid to ask questions of your insurance agent. When dealing with independent agents, we represent so many different companies that our loyalty always lies with the customer. It’s our job to research and find the best policy to suit your needs and then assist you through the life of that policy. If your agent isn’t willing to explain the fine print or help you with claims, then find a new agent. And if you happen to be looking, you’re in the right place. Leave your question in the comment field or give us a call at (888) 919-9876.
Communication is becoming the least of what the average phone can offer these days. Phones have morphed into alarm clocks, navigation, calculators, organizers, and now add life-saver to that list. Parade magazine named iTriage one of ten mobile apps that could save your life. Designed by two emergency room doctors and an Aetna subsidiary, iTriage is intended to answer two questions:
What medical condition could I have?
Where should I go for treatment?
Check with your insurance carrier as well. Several companies have incorporated 24-hour nurse and doctor hotlines into their benefit packages to cut the cost of sometimes unnecessary doctor visits.
Before health care reform, most individuals insuring themselves outside of a group never used their health insurance benefits unless something seriously went wrong. Why? Because in many cases they were sold catastrophic coverage, not because they had a bad insurance agent, but because it was the only affordable option. Catastrophic insurance coverage, AKA hit-by-a-bus insurance, will cover all expenses after the $10,000 or $25,000 deductible is met. It’s full coverage if the worst happens but inaccessible for routine needs. Preventative care has helped bridge that gap.
This is a true and very sad story as reported by CBS news last year; a man robbed a North Carolina bank to receive medical care in jail. I really wish he would have called his local insurance agent first because there are other options. If you can’t afford a low-deductible plan and don’t have the savings to cover a high deductible, supplement a catastrophic policy with accident and critical illness insurance to lower your out-of-pocket expenses.
Fee-for-service plans are another affordable option, along with high-deductible plans that include co-pay benefits. With both plans you can see a general practitioner or specialist at an affordable price, usually between 20 and 40 dollars. UnitedHealthOne has a plan called the Copay Select that offers unlimited $35 doctor visit and $15 generic prescription drug co-pays. Act now before you’re feeling desperate enough to rob a bank; click the banner below to get an instant and free quote for health insurance.
One of the major reasons people get declined for individual health and life insurance is that they don’t fall within the limits of insurance carrier build charts. Build charts are based on height and weight, and obesity is a declinable condition. Fortunately, because of health care reform, there are further options to becoming insured if overweight; but unlike a cancer diagnosis on your medical record, weight can be wiped away.
A cancer diagnosis comes with a trigger date, the date an insurance carrier will consider you for coverage again. But if you lose enough weight to fit within the build chart, you are instantly insurable again with no waiting periods. Even if you fit within the build chart, losing weight can still help you save money on your monthly insurance premium. A higher weight can raise premiums 25 to 50-percent.
Body mass index (BMI) measures body fat based on height and weight. No need to go to the gym or see a nutritionist, you can find your BMI online or on your smart phone. The free app I downloaded for my iPod Touch is simply called BMI Calculator, but it was one of probably a hundred different apps all offering the same service. What I like about the BMI Calculator app is that it includes a color-coded chart, so you can track your progress into the green.
February rings in American Heart month, so I wanted to highlight a couple of the campaigns that will be running over the next 29 days. The goal of Million Heartsis to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over five years. There’s a heart attack risk calculator on their website if you think you could be at risk.
I worked for a dentist years ago. He used to say that the teeth were the most important part of our body because without them we couldn’t eat. Makes sense, yet most of us don’t like going to the dentist. Sometimes fear keeps people away from the loud drills and spraying water. But lately it seems that high prices could be keeping people away, and dental insurance doesn’t usually help much. It normally doesn’t cover more than routine cleanings, maybe a filling here or there, but certainly not a filling that will match the color of your teeth. That would be way too expensive. And God forbid you need a crown or dentures; you could buy a car for less.
If your teeth are pearly jewels that sparkle every time you smile, then stick with your $10-15 a month routine dental plan. If your not a Disney prince, then we’ve got a solution to get you back looking like one – affordably. There are no waiting periods, no deductibles and no maximum spending limits. It’s an individual plan fashioned after a group plan. When you need major work done, call us at (888) 919-9876 or click this link: Dental Plan
You have to stay with the plan for six-months at $39.95 a month, but as long as you don’t have a temporary crown or denture in your mouth at the time of enrollment, the plan will cover whatever procedure you need immediately with no waiting period. Copays are required with the exception of cleanings, xrays and fillings. Here’s an example of your potential savings on dentures:
Now I can’t account for how accurate it is, it almost seems a little low, but this dental cost calculator allows you to input your city and needed dental service, and it will give you the average cost. Dentures – both upper and lower – were over $2,800 in my home city of Sarasota, Florida. With this dental plan, the copay for complete upper and lower dentures is $650. Now add six-months of premium and the $55 enrollment fee, and the price is still less than half of the average cost: $944.70. The plan is open to anyone over the age of 18. Under 18 is eligible to enroll with a parent or guardian.
Here’s the link one more time: Dental Plan and one more story from my days at the dental office: Paula, the dentist’s fun-loving assistant, once talked one of their patients into allowing her to design him a set of festive dentures for Halloween. They were made out of brown, orange and yellow candy corns, and until the day I die, I will never lose that image from my brain…a 75 year-old man wearing a candy corn denture – what a good sport!
