Individual Dental Insurance

goodtosave · #1 (**permalink**) 01-24-2006, 06:01 PM

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 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-25-2006, 10:12 AM

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 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-25-2006, 04:32 PM

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 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-25-2006, 04:39 PM

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 · #5 (**permalink**) 01-25-2006, 06:34 PM

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

goodtosave · #6 (**permalink**) 01-25-2006, 07:09 PM

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 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 10:14 AM

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 · #8 (**permalink**) 01-30-2006, 01:09 PM

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.