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Should you go in for Dental Insurance or a Dental Discount Plan? |
Rising dental costs and the fact that any one in your family including yourself may require dental treatment will definitely be a great cause of concern for you. Needless to say, you may be considering the various options that are available to cover such costs.
Let us take a look at the two options that are available. These options are dental insurance and dental discount plans. Although both of these options are meant to cover dental expenses, strictly speaking there are various differences between the two.
Although the same insurance provider may provide both types of coverage, a traditional dental insurance plan involves paying a certain premium monthly, half-yearly or yearly. In return for that premium, the insurance company agrees to reimburse a certain portion of the costs that you or your dependants may incur on certain types of costs such as cleaning, filling, x-rays and periodic dental checks. As and when you incur such expenses you have to file a claim that involves (at times) lengthy paperwork.
A dental discount plan on the other hand is not an insurance policy. You pay a certain subscription cost for a dental insurance plan, which is usually much lower compared to the premium of a dental insurance plan. You get a card that you present at a dental clinic at the time of making a payment for a dental procedure that entitles you to huge discounts on the costs that you would normally have to pay. There is no paperwork that you have to file later. You get an immediate discount on your bill.
Unlike dental insurance plans, a dental discount plan usually gives you much more latitude in terms of the choice of the dental clinic. A traditional insurance plan usually forces you to choose a dentist from a list of approved dentists. |