No Dental Insurance? Questions to Ask About a Dental Savings Plan
If you are paying for dental care without insurance, you will come across dental savings plans — also called membership plans or savings clubs. Before you join one, it is worth getting plain answers to a short list of questions. Here is the list.
What does it cost, and what does that cost cover?
Ask for the price in writing, what period of time it buys, and when it renews. Ask whether that price covers you alone or other people in your household, and what adding someone costs. Ask whether anything is due on top of it when you join. If a figure is quoted to you on the spot, ask to see it written down before you decide anything.
What is discounted, and by how much?
Ask which kinds of care the plan discounts and how each discount is worked out, then ask the same question about the specific care you expect to need. A plan can look generous in general and still do little for the particular work in front of you. Ask whether the discounted price is fixed or varies, and whether it applies to every provider you might see.
What is excluded?
Ask for the exclusions as explicitly as you asked for the discounts: which treatments are left off, whether anything has a waiting period before you can use it, whether there is a cap on how often a discounted service can be used, and whether the plan can sit alongside any other coverage you have. Ask what happens if you stop paying partway through.
How does it compare with insurance for what you need?
Make a list of the care you already know about — the work a dentist has told you about, anything you have been putting off, and the routine visits you want to keep up. Then price that same list under each option you are considering, rather than comparing them in the abstract. Cheap is not the same as useful if the thing you need is the thing that is excluded. If insurance and financing are also on your mind, what to ask about insurance and payment options is a separate question worth working through on its own.
Why do regular visits matter?
A plan is only worth what you use it for. Regular dental visits can help spot dental health problems early, when treatment is likely to be simpler and more affordable, and help prevent many problems from developing in the first place (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy)).
Where to look next
Our dental savings club page lists discounts that include fillings, crowns, root canal therapy and extractions. Take the questions above with you when you read it. We're Dental Associates of Lodi, in Lodi, NJ; if you are coming in for the first time, start with our first-visit page.
Sources
- American Dental Association (MouthHealthy). "Questions About Going to the Dentist." https://www.mouthhealthy.org/dental-care/questions-about-going-to-the-dentist
