Insurance Benefits: Use Them or Lose Them!
Dental insurance can provide important financial assistance in getting the dental treatments or preventive care you and your family need. If you have dental insurance that is provided through your employer, it is important for you to understand it so that you can get the most out of it.
Maintaining consistent professional dental care is important to protecting your mouth from dental disease. For many people, dental insurance benefits make it possible for you to obtain that dental care.
Know Your Benefits Calendar
It is important to understand the “calendar” of your dental insurance benefits. Most plans tend to align with a calendar year, with the yearly benefits expiring each December 31 and starting a new year on January 1. This means that someone who has not yet seen a dentist by December 1 should schedule a visit prior to the end of the year in order to use those benefits.
Some plans, however, follow a school calendar, from August to August. It is important to know the dates of your own plan and its coverage. This will help you understand when your benefits expire, as well as help you strategically plan any extensive treatments to maximize your insurance benefits.
Understand Your Plan
There are literally hundreds of unique dental plans available today. It can be difficult to know which specific benefits your plan covers. For example, most dental insurance covers preventive procedures, like professional teeth cleanings, at one hundred percent. Some will pay for the full cost of protective mouthguards and professional fluoride treatments.
Many plans require their members to meet a deductible amount before paying out benefits, and others do not. If you do not understand the details of your coverage, it is easy to find yourself frustrated when you or a loved one are in need of dental treatments.
You can find information on your plan regarding how much it covers a variety of common dental procedures. Some plans pay different fees to dentists who contract with them as an in-network providers compared to dentists who are out of their networks. These are all important details in understanding what specific coverage you should have.
Don’t Skip Preventive Visits
Preventive dental visits are essential. We know that it is easy to get off track, especially during the last year and a half of the pandemic. Even if your preventive care is not covered at one hundred percent, it is unlikely that your out-of-pocket expenses will be high.
Your preventive dental visits lower your risk for dental diseases like cavities and gum disease. Many people wait until they notice a problem to seek out dental care. Unfortunately, this usually means the problem is relatively extensive and will require expensive treatment.
By maintaining consistent preventive visits, you will not only reduce your risk for disease. You will also get the most out of your dental insurance plan! If your last professional teeth cleaning was over a year ago, you are past due! Call us today to schedule a visit with one of our awesome dental hygienists.
More Questions about Dental Insurance?
At Timberlake Dental, we love helping our patients get the most out of their dental insurance coverage. Call us today at 940-382-1750 to visit with one of our insurance coordinators. We can answer any general questions you have about dental benefits and investigate your specific plan to help you understand your coverage. Because most benefits expire each calendar year, now is the time to schedule a visit!
Posted by
chowning940
on Dec 8th, 2021
9:28 am
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