Using Your Dental Insurance Before the End of the Year
From the desk of Lindsey Viel, Dental Assistant Instructor:
Well, it’s that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us! As your holiday calendar fills up with festive festivities try and make a few dental appointments. If you need treatment then give yourself a gift of a beautiful smile.
In the dental world, we are always telling our patients about maximizing your benefits, “Use it or Lose it”. If you work for a company that offers dental insurance or even if you have your own plan, it may be a plan that is on a calendar year. Meaning January 1st through December 31st. You have worked hard to obtain dental insurance, so use it. These are a few reasons you should think of using your current dental benefits.
- Saving Money.
We all want to save money especially during this time of year. Your dental insurance is designed to help you save money if you use it correctly. Did you know that dental insurance companies count on you the patient not using your dental insurance? They can make millions of dollars off of the patient who never uses this benefit. It is up to you to know what is offered for your dental insurance plan, but of course, your dental office can help you with all of that insurance lingo.
- Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance are not the same things.
We have a lot of patients think these two things are the same. Just because you have used your medical insurance this year does not mean you have used your dental insurance. You want to also start treatment or continue your treatment before your deductible starts over. What is a deductible you ask? A deductible is the amount of money you must pay to your dentist out of pocket before your insurance company will pay for any services. These fees can vary from plan to plan. Your deductible also starts over when your plan rolls over. So for those calendar year patients, your plan will start over on January 1st.
- Don’t forget, your dental problems can get worse.
Yes, this is true. Just because your tooth does not hurt, or you can’t see it when I smile etc doesn’t mean it won’t start hurting on the weekend or even during the holidays. Don’t let that small cavity go and let it turn into something bigger. By delaying treatment you could be risking more extensive and expensive treatment.
- In-Network or Out-of-network.
What is the difference between in-network and out-of-network? Well by going to a dentist that is in-network you could be saving some money.
In-network means that your dental office has a contract with your insurance company and will typically pay less.
Out-of-network means the dental office does not have a contract with your dental company. You may be paying more money to be going to an out-of-network dentist. You can always ask your dental office if they are in-network with your dental insurance.
Just remember when it comes to this holiday season make that extra time for a dental appointment or two. If you call sooner rather than later, like December 23rd at 4:00 pm, then your dental office will thank you and would love to make your smile amazing!
Don’t delay make an appointment today!