Dental and Health Insurance

The two most important types of insurance coverage you should have are dental and health insurance. For some unknown reason, these two coverages are never linked into the same policy, so they will almost always be purchased separately. My guess is that insurance companies can make sure they have maximum profitability by only offering dental and health insurance separately.

Dental insurance, for some reason, is almost always viewed as somehow less important than medical insurance. Given that dental problems can lead to some serious health problems if not attended to right away, the reasons for this are not quite clear. I know that I would never have just health insurance coverage without dental coverage as well.

Both dental insurance and health insurance are usually offered as two options for the type of care received. The first is called managed care and is usually the lowest cost option. The reason for this is that the insurance company chooses which doctors or dentists you can see, and sets up agreements with those doctors or dentists to provide care at some predetermined cost. With this type of plan, the provider will first charge the insurance company and then the patient will be responsible for whatever costs are not covered by the insurance plan. Also, with a managed care plan, little or no paperwork is involved on the part of the patient.

The other major type of coverage is called indemnity coverage and works quite a bit differently than the managed care coverage. With an indemnity plan, the patient first pays the doctor or dentist for their services, then fills out the paperwork and applies to the insurance company for reimbursement for covered services. This type of plan usually offers less overall coverage than a managed care plan, and typically cost more in terms of premium amounts. The advantage to the indemnity plan, however, is that you can choose to see any provider you like.

Health and dental insurance is far too important to not get some kind of coverage. Today, a single medical or dental emergency can completely wipe out most people's financial lives for a long period of time. Although health and dental insurance coverage can be expensive, it is better to pay for the insurance in small chunks than to have your financial life ruined by a single illness, injury, or accident.