Maybe you’ve cut out getting a coffee every day. You monitor your savings and keep track of your spending each month. Perhaps you’re even trying to eat right and get an annual checkup with your doctor to stay healthier. You look for ways that you can save as much as possible, but are you making sure to use your dental insurance benefits? On January 1, 2020, about 100 million dollars in dental insurance benefits will be forfeited because people failed to take advantage of the benefits they’ve already paid for. Are you one of them? In this post, you’ll learn how dental insurance works and how you can get the most value from it.
What Dental Insurance Provides for You
You pay toward your dental insurance from your paycheck, but what does that money actually do for you? Although each individual policy will differ from the next, in general, dental insurance focuses primarily on preventing oral problems. In fact, insurance companies emphasize the importance of regular preventive services by mostly, if not completely, covering them. Basically, you can get two dental checkups and cleanings with little or even no out-of-pocket cost to you, depending on your coverage.
If you do experience an oral problem, such as a cavity, it pays to resolve it as quickly as possible. While minor restorative care usually has 70 to 80 percent coverage, major repairs are typically only 50 percent covered, costing you more money.
What Happens to Your Benefits
If you don’t take all of your paid-time off, your employer typically rolls these days into the next year, allowing you to still take advantage of these days even after the new year begins. Unlike your unused vacation days at work, your dental insurance benefits do not carry over. Rather, they reset and start all over again. So if you missed a dental visit in 2019, you do not get an extra covered appointment for 2020. You simply lose those benefits and the money you paid for them.
How to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck
As previously mentioned, your dental insurance coverage decreases as your dental treatment becomes more invasive. To reduce what you’ll need to pay to care for your smile, you should make sure that you are keeping up with your semi-annual dental visits. They may seem unimportant, but they can make sure that you use your available benefits and save you significant money by helping you avoid advanced, expensive treatment in the future.
As 2019 comes to a close, don’t be one of those who leaves money on the table. You’ve already paid for your dental insurance benefits, so you deserve to use them to care for your smile. Make sure you squeeze in a visit to your dentist before the end of the year, so you don’t waste your hard-earned money. Your smile and your wallet will thank you for it!
About Dr. J. Travis Kobza
Dr. J. Travis Kobza has been practicing dentistry since 2007 and opened a practice in Falls City in 2013. Although he has completed advanced training in dental implants and hospital dentistry, he much prefers and strives to help patients avoid dental problems altogether. At Kobza Dental, P.C., his team works with all major PPO dental insurance plans and is in-network with Delta Dental and BlueCross BlueShield. If you have an insurance question for the team at Kobza Dental, P.C., just call or click here.