Having quit my job two years ago (I think I am fine with being retired) I can no longer keep buying dental and vision through my previous employer. Now what? Is it worth buying, do you think? And how to go about it?
We assessed our need and decided again purchasing dental/vision plans. Two of my children wear glasses but it was cheaper to pay for their exams and glasses out of pocket. For dental, we have an arrangement regarding the cost with our dentist. You might start with your current dentist/eye doc and ask how they handle patients who do not have insurance. Likely they have a plan in place.
Other than a few months when my job had dental and vision coverage, we’ve not had either the rest of my life and managed fine.
Our medical insurance does provide some coverage for eye and dental exams, and dental crowns and wisdom teeth extractions.
Other than that, we just pay and mostly get our glasses at Costco, where they are reasonably priced.
For us, at the costs of the premiums vs the value of the benefits, we’ve determined we are fine just paying vision and dental out of pocket.
You can start by determining what your normal vision and dental needs and costs are and how much a plan to cover them would cost be benefits.
I did purchase at one time, but when I matched the out of pocket cost with the benefit, I declined the following year. I have found that for my eyeglass needs, Costco has an eye doc in the store and it has been less expensive for me to see them and then use that to buy my glasses through Costco.
Once I didn’t have it through my employer anymore, I negotiated cash pay with both my dentist and my eye doctor. It turned out to be about the same cost without the restrictions.
And like @Meddy - Costco for eye exams and glasses.
Dental and vision insurance are mostly a way for employers to offer a small benefit in those areas. Since they mostly cover just routine expenses, they are commonly not worth buying without employer subsidy. You can, of course, compare premium costs to your expected costs of services.
I buy both. D21 will have lasix when she’s 18, so i have to look and see if that will make it worthwhile to keep for a couple years. If not, I may drop it because we just have routine exams and Costco glasses. My glaucoma checks are covered by my medical.
I do and will keep dental because I have a history of horrible teeth - 3 implants currently. They are EXPENSIVE and make the dental worth it for us.
We keep our dental. We get vision insurance every two years, and we have our eyes checked in the every-other-year that we have insurance.
I have learned that solo practitioners or small independent practices will negotiate (and HARD) rather than lose a patient; if your doctors have sold out to large networks or ownership groups you don’t have a lot of leverage.
I got a cut-rate colonoscopy (paid cash and it was really cheap) and the doc negotiated on my behalf for the anesthesiologist and the OR booking fee. I’ve gotten el cheapo dental care with cash, and like the others above- use Costco for vision (no negotiating on price with the optometrist, but it’s cheap AND they’ve got the cash back deals so it pays out.)
My dentist just sold to a large dental management company which owns multiple practices so I suspect my days of “what’s this going to cost me” are over.
We haven’t paid for dental or vision insurance in years- when I had it at work, and my kids were covered, some years it was worth it and others not. So once the kids were off our plan, we get as high a deductible as possible on health care and have found that some doctors are happy to negotiate (just don’t tell anyone). In my state, mammograms are “free” so I haven’t had to try and negotiate that, but I’ve heard that a big radiology practice is negotiable on bone density scans and other routine/preventative stuff.
Do the math before you purchase- I suspect these add on policies are REALLY profitable for the insurer…
Check to see how much premiums cost and how much you’d regularly pay without it. We didn’t have either for most of my adult life. My employer offers the benefit, but employees pay 100% of the premiums if they choose to take it.
We got dental first. We would break even premium wise if all 4 of us went for cleanings 2x year. We would come out ahead if we had problems. Fortunately, we haven’t had many, but the older we get, the more likely it will happen. The plan paid $0 for older S’s braces, but later it did cover $1000 of the younger S. It did cover wisdom tooth extraction (partially).
I just signed onto our vision plan last year. Originally, it didn’t seem to cover much to be worth it. However, now the premiums are $186/year and we get $150 off per year per person for in-network contacts. We have 4 people in contacts. And 1-800-contacts is in network!
Once my kids age out, I’ll likely drop the vision. I make my contacts last longer don’t buy them every year. Dental, I’m not so sure. I’m sure the likelihood of root canals & crowns & other unpleasant things will go up…
We don’t get vision, those exams and our glasses are inexpensive enough to pay out of pocket for.
We do get dental insurance. We all have enough issues to make it worth having.
I do, but I don’t pay a whole lot. It’s $449/year for Dental and $168/year for Vision for myself and both of my kids. Two of us have glasses, so we’re coming out ahead on the vision. The dental is probably a wash with 6 cleanings/exams a year, but at least it’s pre-tax.
when I had a nanny 3 or 4 years ago, I helped her get dental insurance via Costco rates, which surprisingly was quite cheap (Delta HMO, very limited number of dentists but she found a pretty decent dentist). I want to say something like $27 a month IIRC.
Never had it when offered. Prefer to go to my own choice of dentists and optometrists.
I also found that routine dental costs are rather manageable, but chose a plan that includes dental. Right now, it’s a wash, so prepaying (in effect, via the premiums,) is no matter. My eye plan covers all but $40 of the exam and some chunk of the glasses cost (maybe ordinary lenses and then the frame, up to a $ amount.) Again, it’s part of the insurance. I looked at VSP and it wasn’t worth it.
Thing is, if you need more, say, a root canal, that’s when you need to have first run numbers, know what’s worth the premium, and read the fine print.
also, the ppo plans around here only cover major work (i.e., crowns, implants) after a waiting period of a year. So you pay a full year of premiums for essentially an exam and two cleanings in the first year, and the second year you can get your crown fixed.
Most plans on the private market have benefit and per-item caps that really limit the value of the insurance – and many dentists do not accept the insurance payment as full payment but simply apply it as an offset. In other words, maybe the insurance pays $75 for a filling and the dentist bills $125 – so you are still paying the $50 balance. And that plan may have a $1000 annual cap on expenses – so a more costly procedure like a crown can quickly exhaust your benefits (assuming its covered at all – the lower cost plans often exclude the more expensive procedures outright). Basically, when I account for monthly premiums, I’ve found that the dental insurance wasn’t worth it. In the past (when money was tight) it was easier for me to simply work out a payment plan with the dentist for unanticipated expenses.
I did get a vision benefit with my Medicare supplement – and it did result in a cost savings for the annual vision check and contact lenses — but I’m not currently paying a separate premium for that. It’s all packaged into the main premium – so it was something factored in when choosing the supplement carrier and plan, but not something I would likely buy on a stand-alone basis.
Just retired this year with full retiree medical for DH and myself at minimal premium cost.
But no dental.
We’ve always paid for eye exams and glasses out of flex spending acct while working. Now pay out of pocket.
I’ve bought delta dental now for us both. It gets us 4 cleanings/exrays covered completely and reduced cost for crowns I seem to need one ot two every year up to $2000 per year.
Did not have 1 yr waiting period as we had Deltal dental when I worked so they waive that.
IF you have a high deductible medical plan make sure you are funding your HSA fully. You can use that money for dental care, paying for it with pre-tax dollars.
Our dentist is fairly pricey but I trust them absolutely and they are practically walking distance from my house.
We have a Medicare Advantage which includes dental and vision. Nice perk.