Did you know?
Your oral health is a window to your overall health, and one way to ensure your mouth is healthy is to take regular and proper care of your teeth. The good news is that with dental insurance, you can easily care for your teeth with less out-of-pocket expenses.
If you have a dental insurance plan, whether private or public, certain benefits accrue in a given year for your dental treatments. However, failure to utilize these benefits simply means that you’re not only leaving money on the table but also wasting these benefits.
So, how can you avoid wasting the dental benefits you have at our dental spa in Baxter Village near Fort Mill, SC? Our dentist, Dr. Brianna Schraw, DMD, will explain the fundamental information you need to know about your dental insurance and how you can maximize your benefits before the end of 2024.
The Rules Behind Dental Insurance Benefits
A dental insurance plan follows a variety of procedures and payments that allow patients to cover certain dental treatments. Your insurance plan will often consist of premiums, deductibles, an annual maximum, and the percentage of treatments covered:
- Premiums: These are the monthly payments or amounts you pay to your insurance provider for your dental coverage.
- Deductibles: Before your insurance plan kicks in, you’ll be required to pay a certain amount of money. This amount you pay is called deductibles.
- Annual Maximum: This is the maximum amount your dental insurance plan will cover for the oral treatments you receive in a year.
Coverages for Treatment Types
One interesting thing about your dental insurance benefits is that they cover specific types of treatments. Although the kinds of treatment covered vary based on the insurance plan and the provider, they usually cover major, basic, and preventive dental care:
- Major Dental Care: Your dental insurance plan partially covers major dental treatments, such as dental crowns and bridges, implants, oral surgery, dentures, and complex extractions.
- Basic Dental Care: You can receive dental insurance benefits on basic dental treatments such as dental fillings, root canals, gum disease treatment, and tooth extractions. You can get about 80% coverage for these services or more if you haven’t met your deductibles.
- Preventive Dental Care: Dental insurance plans usually offer full coverage for preventive care, which includes routine checkups, dental cleanings, fluoride, X-rays, and sealants.
Health Savings Accounts vs. Flexible Spending Accounts
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a type of investment account offered by employers to members who are enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). Individuals who are self-employed and have an HDHP can also set up an HSA account.
Here, a portion of your deductible is deposited to your health savings account to pay for qualified medical expenses or until your deductible is met. An HSA account earns interest and usually rolls over any remaining balance from the previous year.
A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is an employee benefit that enables an individual to set aside money for specific healthcare expenses or as a dependent care expense account. For an FSA, the employer, not the employee, owns the account, and it isn’t open to self-employed individuals.
What Happens If You Don’t Use Your Benefits
- Annual Maximums Don’t Roll Over: Your yearly maximum renews at the beginning of each year, making you forfeit any unspent money. If you have an annual maximum that you haven’t utilized, they will expire by December 31st. So, delaying treatments or avoiding the dentist is simply throwing money away!
- You’re Throwing Money Away: Let’s look at it this way. If you’re paying for dental coverage but haven’t visited the dentist for treatments or routine cleaning, you’re certainly not making the most of the money you spend on your annual premium. It’s more cost-effective to use every last dollar of available dental coverage to offset the cost of your treatments.
- Late Diagnosis for Dental Issues: Visiting the dentist for routine checkups can help you detect oral issues early before they become severe. However, failure to utilize your dental benefits by visiting the dentist may allow mild dental issues to develop into more severe conditions, leading to higher treatment costs.
Use Your Dental Benefits in Fort Mill, SC
To maximize your dental benefits in Fort Mill, SC, you must have a good understanding of what your plans cover and whether you’ll have to make some out-of-pocket expenses. Also, if you have any dental insurance, ensure you make maximum use of its coverages, because your annual maximum will expire at the end of the year, meaning that you’ll be leaving money in the hands of your insurance providers if not used. Schedule an appointment with our Baxter Village dentist today to discover the best ways to use your dental benefits.
