Hello!
I am a 28 yr old New Yorker and have decided to embark in an adult braces journey and have been doing all kinds of research, including insurance coverage.
My dental insurance will only authorize $1,940 towards orthodontic treatment. I have been searching for information about additional dental/orthodontic insurance, that may contribute towards the expense of the treatment. I know that I will have out-of-pocket cost as insurances do not cover 100% of braces treatment, but would like to lower the expense.
I have come across some such as: AmeriDental, Healthplex and Aflac, but I haven't come across any customer reviews.
Does anyone have experience with supplemental dental insurances?
Supplemental Dental/Orthodontic Insurance?
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BracedSurgeryStudent
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Re: Supplemental Dental/Orthodontic Insurance?
A lot fo people in my state get free braces on their insurance, the one provided by the state. In fact the provider of insurance I have, I only bought the basic medical packege, and it does have a supplimental Orthodontic (not dental that's also seperate from this) Insurance.
Jenn Medeiros
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cblackbraces
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Re: Supplemental Dental/Orthodontic Insurance?
If you have an FSA or Health Savings acount through your employer, you could use those dollars tax free. Not the same as insurance, but maybe an option.
Re: Supplemental Dental/Orthodontic Insurance?
AmeriDental isn't insurance at all; it's one of those cheap and generic "discount cards" that more often than not are complete scams. (To their credit, AmeriDental states right on their homepage that they aren't insurance.) It theoretically provides a 15% discount off of a participating orthodontist's services. (I suppose it might be worth it if by some miracle the orthodontist you select is on their list of participating providers. I wouldn't get your hopes up; the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC area (pop. approx. 1.7M) returned all of two participating orthos.)
HealthPlex is real insurance, but like AmeriDental, offers nothing more than a discount off of the "regular fee", and of course it only works with participating orthos. (I didn't check their network.)
With both of those two, I'd bet a six-pack of beer that you wouldn't see the treatment estimate drop if you "sprung" the discount card on the ortho after they've presented their estimate.
Aflac will pay up to $1,200, but will only start paying after you've paid for the optional rider for two years. You aren't restricted as to the ortho. I suppose this might be worth it if the rest of the insurance is of interest to you, and the rider doesn't cost so much that it's pointless. (as in, a rider that costs $50/mo would end up being just a "pre-payment" plan.)
The reason it's so hard to find individual insurance with decent ortho coverage is the principal of Adverse Selection. Basically, the people most likely to purchase an orthodontic rider (or a policy with decent ortho coverage) are those that know they'll need it. That makes it pretty hard for the insurance company to make a profit on it. Group policies are more likely to have ortho coverage since they can actually spread the risk around a lot of people that don't need braces.
HealthPlex is real insurance, but like AmeriDental, offers nothing more than a discount off of the "regular fee", and of course it only works with participating orthos. (I didn't check their network.)
With both of those two, I'd bet a six-pack of beer that you wouldn't see the treatment estimate drop if you "sprung" the discount card on the ortho after they've presented their estimate.
Aflac will pay up to $1,200, but will only start paying after you've paid for the optional rider for two years. You aren't restricted as to the ortho. I suppose this might be worth it if the rest of the insurance is of interest to you, and the rider doesn't cost so much that it's pointless. (as in, a rider that costs $50/mo would end up being just a "pre-payment" plan.)
The reason it's so hard to find individual insurance with decent ortho coverage is the principal of Adverse Selection. Basically, the people most likely to purchase an orthodontic rider (or a policy with decent ortho coverage) are those that know they'll need it. That makes it pretty hard for the insurance company to make a profit on it. Group policies are more likely to have ortho coverage since they can actually spread the risk around a lot of people that don't need braces.