private dental insurance

[feh]

My company was purchased a couple years ago, and the benefits have been going downhill ever since. It would have cost me over $1000 for family dental insurance for 2009.

Since we (me, wife, son) don't have any problems with our teeth and regular cleanings would cost around $600 for the year, we opted out of the insurance.

My question - does anybody have private dental insurance? If so, through what company? Is there any chance such a plan could cost less than what's available through my employer?

Thanks!

[Hypersion]

With dental IMHO insurance is not worth it. It's better to shop around and self-insure.

[MonkeyMama]

I agree - from my own experience. We self-insure. Actually, my wee little one had a pile of cavities this year, so I started to rethink our self-insurance (did not foresee in the least - only now I learn my spouse had tons of cavities as a small child as well - hopefully he will grow out of it like dh).

Anyway, I was shopping around and even for all the cavities most plans wouldn't cover more than like 20% anyway, and stuff like that. I just could not find anything worthwhile. Even after getting a $2k bill for 10 fillings.

So if anyone has ideas, I am open. For us we get 10% off because we don't have insurance (at the ped dentist), we get the "forever a client" discount from my dentist (which is pretty good), and we get a nice tax deduction. So we save about 25% off all our bills in the end. & that looks about better than any privately offered insurance anyway.

My experience before when we had dental insurance was that the insurance cost more than regular cleanings anyway. & we don't generally have any dental work outside preventitive. So like you, I am pretty happy just to opt out, and self-insure.

[feh]

When you guys say "self-insure", I assume you mean just pay the bills out of pocket, right?

In a few years my son will need braces, so it will make sense then, but for just preventative service, it seems to be a money loser.

[momof1in150]

We have dental insurance through DH's employer and it costs $117 per month. There are four of us and it covers 2 cleanings each per year, 1 fluoride treatment per child per year, sealants and xrays every other year (or if needed). It costs about $225 for cleanings & fluoride so it is worth it for us because at least 2 of us need something done during the year. I had 2 fillings replaced this year and I paid out of pocket about $90 total. DS13 had 4 baby teeth pulled and we didn't pay anything out of pocket, about $400 was paid by the dental insurance. We don't get any where near the 7% to claim medical/dental as a deduction so it is worth is for us.