I’ve talked people out of buying individual dental insurance before.
That’s not a great way to boost the bottom line in our business, but I’ve never really had access to an individual dental plan that made a lot of sense for most of my clients. When you calculate the premiums on one side and compare them to the benefits on the other side, it usually was a break-even proposition at best. Then you’d factor in waiting periods and, well, what’s the point?
The problem, in South Carolina at least, is that most dentists don’t participate in networks. And only the network-based plans seemed to be worthwhile.
Well we now have an individual dental insurance plan that’s worth a look. In fact, I’m going to be enrolling my own family in this plan over the weekend. Here are a few of the reasons we think Security Life’s dental plan is worth having:
- You can choose a plan with NO waiting periods. If you’ve got a procedure coming up, it can be covered immediately. Now, it won’t be covered at 100%, but you’ll get some relief on the price, which is obviously better than nothing! Benefits for basic and major services graduate in over time, so the longer you’ve had the policy, the greater your benefits will be. But you’ll get some level of benefits immediately.
. - You can use any dentist. My dentist is a friend of mine and I like him and trust him. But he doesn’t do networks. No matter – Security Life will pay benefits when I see my dentist. Now, they do have a network, which means that if you find a dentist who participates in it you’ll get even more value for your money. But you don’t have to stay in that network to get benefits.
. - The numbers add up, especially for families. Many dental plans tend to be priced on a per person basis. Security Life has a price for an individual, individual + spouse, individual + children, or individual + family coverage. The prices are competitive at all levels. But the “children” and “family” categories get even more competitive. Those prices are the same whether you have 1, 3, or 6 kids. Obviously, if you have multiple children (I have three), this is going to be a great value.
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When I made the same chart — putting the premiums on one side and the benefits on the other — suddenly it started making more sense for us. To be perfectly honest, in my situation, if all we ever used was routine preventive care, we’d only come out ahead by a very small margin the first year. But that margin gets more comfortable in year two because the preventive care deductibles are one-time only ($50). And, of course, we all know that sometimes other stuff comes up. Cavities happen.
. - There are plenty of options. You can get a plan that includes orthodontic coverage. They have specialty plans designed for people over age 60 (there is no maximum age – you can keep this plan as long as you’d like.).
So if you are interested in finding dental insurance for your family, I’d encourage you to check out Security Life. You can get details and quotes here, and even enroll if you’re ready. Questions? Contact us to talk about it.