many standard healthcare plans

 

One of the key reasons dental care is omitted from many standard healthcare plans is that it’s perceived as cosmetic in nature as opposed to life-saving. It does make sense since the overwhelmin find g majority of dental work wouldn’t be considered an emergency. There will be a sizable time window between when the dentist recommends a procedure to when it actually occurs. 

You could therefore request your dentist to send the insurance company a ‘predetermination’ of benefits before they proceed with treatment. The insurer will process an estimate in much the same way it would a claim. The difference is, in this case, the insurance company sends a statement indicating what they would have paid for. 

Doing this eliminates surprises house and gives you the confidence to plan your dental treatment with ease. It’s also a great way to know whether your plan has a least expensive alternative business treatment (LEAT) that rules out covering certain forms of dental treatment.

 

4.    Plan Multi-Stage Treatment Accordingly

Your annual maximum doesn’t carry over to the next year. Rather, it renews at the start of each year. Ergo, if you are planning on undergoing extensive dental care treatment, you can schedule the stages in a way that maximizes your plan payments. 

The best approach is to arrange the treatment stages in a way that your plan’s annual maximum renews somewhere between stages. This will ensure that your plan adequately covers the next treatment stage while leaving sufficient room to accommodate emergency unforeseen dental treatment for the rest of the year. 

So if it’s November and you are already approaching your annual maximum cover, request the dentist to put off the next stage treatment until January or February.