Individual Dental Insurance

[goodtosave]

Hi,

I am self employed in California and have been shopping around for a good dental insurance plan for my family. So far the individual plans are very limited in its benefits compared with the ones offered for small groups(2-55 employees). The rates are the about the same but the benefits difference are night and day. It's almost like the insurance industry discriminates against the individuals.

Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated!

[Fern]

i've often heard that if you're self employed and shopping for health insurance, you can often join a group thru a local credit union, chamber of commerce and so on.

Perhaps the same applies for dental only plans.

i agree, the insurance industry definitely discriminates against individuals, becus Congress hasn't legislated protections for the self-employed the way they have for employees. It's a big loophole.

[JoyJoy]

We just signed up for DeltaDental Individual Coverage in NY. California also has Delta Dental Coverage for individuals. Go to their website DeltaDental.com and you can see if this plan will be helpful to you and your family.

[goodtosave]

We looked at DeltaDental but they have a very limited list of dentists we can go to. We would prefer a PPO type program.

[sweeps]

Have you tried the various sites that consolidate quotes from many different companies?

[goodtosave]

Both Blue Shield and Blue Cross in CA offers individual PPO plans but the coverage is very inferior when compared to a small group plan which has the same premium.

[CRFSaver]

Do you have a lot of dental work that needs to be done? If its just cleanings (and no history of fillings or other large dental work) why not just self insure?

[goodtosave]

There's 6 of us in the family. And it costs $600 just for one cleaning for the children. It will cost us about $1600-$1800 just for cleaning 2x a year without any other problems.

A small group plan with about 1200 total premium a year will allow us to have 2 free cleanings a year and share in the costs for other services up to 1000 per member.

So there's substantial savings for our family to be in a group plan.

[zetta]

I don't know the legalities if this, but could you hire your spouse part-time and qualify for the group plans?

[Scanner]

I think it's better for dental to "self-insure" and find a discount dental plan to belong to rather than buy an insurance plan.

You could also find a dental school for routine cleanings and maintenance. . .and just use your local dentist for "interventional" type of stuff (cavities, caps).

[bhcr1]

Hi Guys,

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[insuranceagent]

It also matters on how big your group is because the larger the group the cheaper the insurance policy. Find independent insurance agents who can get you the best rate and be there for you. Most plans offer free cleaning to? I am not sure why you had to pay 600.

[Frugal]

I have also heard it is much harder to shop for insurance when you are self-employed. When I was employed both full- and part-time, I never even once received health insurance. When I looked at policies on my own that were not group policies from an employer, they were prohibitively expensive.

[Gloria Alice]

I've been evaluating the dentists in these plans. I would do a Yelp search. The news is not good. At least it isn't in my area of California. It's pretty sad. If you are a senior you can go with AARP which is about 60.00 a month, but the yearly cap on payout is only 1500.00. So, basically you pay out about 700- for about double return which isn't bad. But, for a lot of dental work- this wouldn't work. I'm still looking. But, for sure Yelp your dentist before going to them.

[bjl584]

This thread is approaching 6 years old.