The History of Dental Insurance

Concerning Dental Insurance...

We are pleased that you have a dental co-payment insurance policy. (Co-payment means your insurance company will pay some, but not all, of your treatment.) We will do everything we can to help you maximize your benefits on a yearly basis. We ask you to keep several important facts in mind.

When dental insurance plans first began in 1970, they allowed $1000 per year in benefits. The vast majority of plans today still only provide $1000 per year in benefits. (Yours might be more or less than this, but the majority still has this same yearly amount.) In other words, reflecting for a 6% per year inflation, the typical $1000 benefit per year as seen back in 1970, is now equal to $176.84 in today’s dollars.

Had the various insurance companies increased their benefit on a year-by-year basis reflecting increases for inflation, that typical $1000 benefit would now be worth $5111.69 per year!! It is interesting to note that although benefits have not kept pace with inflation, your premiums have certainly gone up. The bottom line is that your yearly benefit has shrunk over the years even though you’re paying more to the insurance company for it.

A completed claim form will be filed as each phase of treatment is completed. We ask you understand that we neither work for the insurance companies, nor do we wish to. We work 100% FOR YOU! Your benefit package is a result of the transaction between your employer, or union, and the insurance company that sold the plan.

We will do our utmost to see that you receive the maximum benefits from your companies' program, but keep in mind that most plans only provide for minimum, average, care. In other words, the least desirable treatment that will still get you over the hump. Sometimes, an insurance company will state that the fee charged by the dentist was over it’s “UCR”, (the usual, customary, and reasonable fee). This does not mean that the fee charged by the dentist was excessive; it simply means that because of the contract your employer arranged with the insurance company (and the amount of money they were willing to pay in premiums), they are only willing to pay for a minimal amount of care. Please see the section about our fees for more information about "UCR".

Excellence in care rarely comes under the dictates of "average, or usual". Our obligation is to YOU. We will offer to you what we feel is the best possible treatment modern dentistry can provide for YOUR particular needs, irregardless of what the insurance company may be willing to provide.

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