

Ask HN: What do you use for Dental Insurance? - mannylee1

I am a contractor for a major company.  And with that am offered no dental insurance.  What do you guys use as cheap &#38;&#38; reliable &#38;&#38; quality dental insurance.
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SwellJoe
My bank account. Dental care simply isn't expensive enough for me to consider
it something I would insure for. Insurance, to me, is for catastrophic events
(and medical care, because the US health care system is so screwed up that
even day-to-day care is vastly overpriced). Dental care can never cost more
than a few thousand dollars in a given year, even in the event of horrible
problems...and mostly it's less than a couple hundred each year.

~~~
mannylee1
It seems pretty crazy to use your 'bank account' alone, when there are dental
plans that cover up to 50% of costs for as little as $100 per year. I am just
trying to figure out which one of those is the best option. If anyone here has
had a good experience with one of them, please let me/us know.

~~~
SwellJoe
Crazy? Really? You think it's crazy to not use insurance for something I
consider a trivial expense? I also don't insure for optometry care.

That $100 per year is constant. My dental care is usually less than that, even
without discounts, and even when it's not, I can comfortably afford to pay for
it out of pocket.

I think our culture of insuring for everything vaguely health related is a big
part of the problem with our health system, as it takes the decisions out of
the hands of the people best able to make them and puts them into the hands of
bureaucrats. I'm certainly not going to contribute to breaking dental care by
insuring for it, as well.

Anyway, I insure against serious problems, not against normal care. If I could
do the same with health care, I would. I shouldn't need to go through my
insurance company just to go in for a checkup. It's stupid that it's the way
things are done...so I certainly don't want to have the same hassle with
dental care (or optometry, or veterinary care for my dog, etc.).

~~~
ScottWhigham
Let me ask you this: is your opinion of dental insurance in any way related to
your age and lifestyle? You have a strong opinion but, from an outsider, it
seems that this is one of those, "This works for me therefore it must work for
everyone" cases. A family of six with three under the age of 10 would likely
have a different perspective. Is it possible that, as you reach 60+ years,
your perspective will change? From seeing my own grandparents and parents
expenses, I'd guesstimate most elderly spend upwards of $10-$30k on dental
work from 60-80.

~~~
SwellJoe
_Let me ask you this: is your opinion of dental insurance in any way related
to your age and lifestyle? You have a strong opinion but, from an outsider, it
seems that this is one of those, "This works for me therefore it must work for
everyone" cases._

You're wearing your "voice of reason" face, without actually adding anything
to the conversation. I believe I've made my position pretty clear about why
insurance for trivial expenses is a bad investment. But I guess we'll go over
it some more.

 _From seeing my own grandparents and parents expenses, I'd guesstimate most
elderly spend upwards of $10-$30k on dental work from 60-80._

That's not even plausible for "most elderly". My dad has always had serious
dental issues, and is in his sixties now (as is my mom, though her dental
issues didn't start as early as my dad's and have never been as serious).
_Combined_ they spend less than $10k per year on dental care, without dental
insurance.

Anyway, my position is, and will not change with age, that insurance should be
for catastrophic events, not day-to-day expenses. Insurance is designed to pay
for the occasional rather than the regular. Insurance is not designed to save
you money...it is designed to help you get over the major bumps in
expenditures that come up every now and then, by surprise. Dental care is,
generally, a regular, mostly predictable, expense.

Do you believe insurance companies are doing what they do at a loss? Are they
giving everyone more than they pay for? If not, it's unwise to pay them for
things you can pay for out of pocket, because in the long run, the insurance
company _always_ makes money. Buying insurance is like gambling. When it's
something like health care, which can explode into hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of expenses, you _must_ accept the bet; otherwise you're risking
your health and risking bankruptcy. When it's something like dental care,
which can never be more than a few thousand dollars (cosmetic dentistry can
add up to more, but that's never covered anyway), unless you expect to be the
very expensive outlier, it's a poor investment.

If you like making poor investments, or if you are the outlier that requires
frequent and expensive dental care, then you should get dental insurance.
Otherwise, you're paying for both your dental care, _and_ the profit margin of
your insurance company (and probably for some of the outliers that require a
lot of care, since insurance distributes cost, as well).

~~~
mannylee1
You really seem to be missing the point. Yes insurance in general is currently
not in the best shap, but it still does work for some people. It seems to me
that you have been letting the negative connotation of current situation of
health/whatever insurance go to your head without seeing that it currently
does have benefits for some people right now. Yes right now. I too think the
insurance industry sucks, but if it can benefit a particular person, then why
not use it. It makes no sense not to.

The perfect example being that dental insurance can work in some instances. I
have personally used it successfully in the past in have saved a lot of money
using it on a fillings procedure. And that is just one example.

Again the only reason why I am asking here is to find a solid company that a
lot of others recommend. It looks like the latest comment is one of them.

------
ScottWhigham
My dad told me about "Careington" the other day and says that it saves him
money: <http://www1.careington.com/index.aspx>

