dental plans

[junebug]

we finally got the insurance cards for the CHAMPVA insurance (DH is a veteran) i have been waiting for this forever. there was a complication and it took longer than expected. anyway, the main reason i wanted it was for dental. my kids havent been to the dentist recently and need to go. but this insurance doesn't include it. i'm so mad. while in the militar, they had a separate dental plan that we had to pay for each month. but i dont think its offered to veterans and their families. so now i need to find a good dental plan. i went to DentalPlans.com and there is a huge list. most average out to be around $170 a year for a family. its not insurance, just discounted rates. the savings seem pretty good. i'm thinking Chloe may need braces later so i need to find something with ortho, but i know my parents were on a payment plan when my little brother had them so it may not be a problem. i found one plan for Indiana Residents. i just don't want to get scammed and don't know how to find something legit. anyone have any advice?

TIA

[lovely1m]

I have always wondered why dental insurance is so different in the military. I use that one so I am no help. I recently was looking for a cheaper way to get medical insurance for my son (the guard one is like like 3 times as much money to add him on to mine) and I just called the local big insurance company and they sent me a plan I could put him on that is much more affordable.

[mummytothree]

We have it through DH's work and we have Delta Dental, not sure if they offer individual plans but we LOVE them!!! Free check ups every six months, free fluoride treatments every six months, Free bite-wing xays once a year, free full xays once every 5 years and 50% off orthodontics....those are the things we use regularly. Then once my hubby chipped a tooth (on a piece of gum ) and he had it rebuilt and it only cost $7 bucks!!

Years ago (probably 7) we had Assurant through DH's work and they were good too. All we used them for was cleanings thought since it was just us and we only had the 2 girls and they were like 5 and 1 but I'm pretty sure they offer private plans!!!

[jessica31876]

when my husband was working we had an awesome plan. I wanna say it was through Amerigroup? But that might not be right. I just remember when we had to go to the dentist the dentist even commented on what a great plan we had. I think we paid like 35 a month for a family and it covered each family member for up to 2000 dollars annually with a 50 dollar deductible and the deductible did not apply to things like fillings or exams. Only stuff like oral surgery. It was really awesome. One of the big reasons I was so upset about him losing his job when it happened. Oh and we never had more tehn 150 dollars out of pocket each year...so the first three people who had to pay the deductible paid 50 a piece and then it was totally free after that. Plus orthodontics were 80% off.

[Shawna]

We also have Delta Dental through the school district where my DH is employed and we really like it so far. Like Elizabeth we get free preventative checkups & free fluoride treatments every six months and free bite-wing xays once a year, we've only had to use it for our checkups/xays & the kids fluoride treatments so far. I think most procedures are covered 50% (like crowns & implants) and 80% (fillings), and our deductible is pretty low. Unfortunately our plan doesn't include orthodontics so we need to see if we can find a supplemental plan for that cause I know all three of our kids are going to need braces.

[mummytothree]

Yes our deductible is $50 bucks a person or $150 a family!!!

[MamaBee]

We used to have Delta Dental through my hubby's work... I wonder why ours wasn't as cheap (or as good) as Elizabeth's? It cost us around $90 a month... and it just doesn't pay to shell out all that money for just the two of us. We have taken that money we would have paid out and put it in a saving account. Our dentists offers us a 10% discount for paying cash. *sigh* I had awesome insurance when I worked for KC... I worked long enough to get my wisdom tooth pulled before I left.

[~Julie~]

We have Delta Dental through Dave's work too and it is awesome. We have had to pay out of pocket for some stuff but a lot of it was covered.

[Shawna]

We are extremely lucky that we don't pay any monthly premiums for our health/dental coverage, the district pays the full premium as long as you meet the criteria for the yearly wellness credit otherwise we would pay just $20/mo. Our dental copay used to be $50/person but recently went up to $62.50/person which is still pretty reasonable. Now if only our health ins. deductible were that low

[junebug]

Delta Dental was on the list. i may check them out. or i just thought about going back to the childrens dentist we were going to when i had the hoosier healthwise insurance on just the kids; the lady that worked there was very sweet and helpful and maybe she knows of something good as well. that insurance was very good; we paid $75 a month and the kids appointments and everything didnt cost a cent. Emma even had a couple teeth extracted in the hospital (totally put under and everything) and we didnt pay anything. but now that we have this insurance i dont think we can get it. plus it was just for the kids and i need something too lol. thanks for all your input!

[jaylensmom]

My job has MetLife and my son's father has Delta Dental...both have been great. I'm not sure if the state you live in offers dental for children...that may be an option even though you don't need the health insurance...I'm in California and I know they offer different plans depending on certain criteria (my sister works for the program)

[nonnie]

We have United Concordia through the military - and I think we pay about 30 a month and it covers almost everything - We do have a yearly cap per child and last year we went over for Dylan - Holy cow - One visit was like 400 dollars ~ We made sure that never happened again!! For the most part its really good insurance - most of the time I never paid for any visits

[emilyscout]

You might want to call the insurance company and ask if there is any coverage for your kids regarding dental. I know our health insurance covers dental until they are 12 years old. We don't have coverage. I looked into dental insurance, but its more expensive here than just paying out of pocket.

[DawnMarch]

We have Delta Dental too. It's pretty good -- covers exams and cleanings, and 50% of most procedures. I do have a deductible, though, and it doesn't cover certain sedatives that my dentist uses on kids for more serious procedures (e.g., pulling teeth).

[MissKim]

Same as Shawna, but we also have dental through my husband, so we end up not paying anything for dental most of the time. We added my husband's dental plan because my middle daughter needed braces and it's cheaper to pay for insurance than it was to pay for braces. We still had to pay 50% of the braces, but that was affordable. I think the dental through him costs us $10/month. We pay nothing for it through mine.

[joelsgirl]

So Corey, did you ever find a good dental plan???

[junebug]

i went with Anthem. Dental Blue 200 or something. it wont pay for everything, but most of it i believe and there are certain things that are at a set, reduced price. pretty reasonable. haven't used it yet; just got the cards a couple weeks ago. but i will be making aidan an appointment soon. he had a tooth break off last year before we had insurance and now it looks really bad. he'll probably have it extracted. its one of his top front teeth too. ugh. pictures are hard; i always clone his good tooth to hide it lmao. we just didnt have the money to take him for that kind of work before we had this insurance.