It definitely impacted where we live. We loved living in NoVA but having lived so far from family when we were raising our kids we wanted to be close to them. It helped that they were living in a city we liked anyway.
I have one GD who just turned 3, and a GS will be arriving very soon. It’s really great to be such a part of their lives like this. That said, I am just an occasional babysitter ( also a backup) I don’t do a full time thing. I’m too busy with my own stuff. I know our D and SIl appreciate my living near.
I am curious what people are doing for dental insurance/savings plans. I have always gotten dental through my employer, but the COBRA prices are high enough that I don’t think it makes sense to do that. Outside dental insurance appears to be even worse. Are dental savings plan worthwhile?
I pay my dentist in cash and don’t have dental insurance. In comparing the cost of plans, the cost of premiums year over year has always been much higher than paying up front (and that’s with some expensive procedures as well).
Mine was pretty cheap through my employer, but COBRA would be $70/month to cover both of us. That doesn’t seem worth it. The insurance plans I am seeing online are more than that with less coverage. We are too young for Medicare. The dental savings plans are less than $20/month but sound too good to be true. Complicating this is that I am considering switching dentists for other reasons.
We like that our now-married kids are in the general area. We did help with their house purchases in our HCOL area. These were no-strings contributions.
We have great friends here and love where we live. Not likely to leave, but not opposed to a CCRC when the house becomes too much.
My dentist has in an-office plan. It’s the cost of two cleanings, lasts for a year, and it includes X-rays & 20% off the cash price for office visits and procedures.
We had reasonable dental COBRA, and did that until we had a plan with our dentist. It covers lots of the services – all of our routine care. Then they discount any other services.
I asked our dentist’s office about the dental insurance that had the same name as our company’s dental insurance - and even though the summary of the plan seemed to ‘match’ what we had, the dental office said no it did not.
We each annually pay $375 to our dentist for his in-office plan. That is a little over $31/month for each of us.
IMHO stay on your COBRA and when you switch dentists and find a dentist you like, then see what you should do. COBRA is just for 18 months anyway.
I know our employer’s dental plan would have paid about half on the crown DH just needed. This was a replacement for one that needed replacing (DH was having trouble on that bite spot) - we have had our dentist for a long time (decades) and his work is excellent. He had a $224 discount with the office plan coverage, and we paid $1265 for the crown workup and crown.
We went off Cobra for dental even though it cost more on a private dental plan. The dentist I go to was not a preferred provider for my Cobra insurance. I recommend you find what kind of insurance your new dentist (if you change) is a preferred provider for, and go with that. I asked my dental office what was the best insurance for me to have and they said, “Delta Dental” with no hesitation.
We will be shopping for dental plans when my Medicare B comes through. My dentist offers a discounted deal but i am not impressed by it, and it doesn’t cover the endodontist.
Protip: get as much dental work done as you can in your last couple of years of employer-paid dental. (subject to the annual max). For example, hat large filling that you have had in a back molar for 20+ year is probably ready for a crown.
We do dental insurance. At one point I calculated that if we needed anything other than cleanings it worked out to our benefit, and I’ve had 3 crowns in the last 4 years. My husband has also had things done, so we appreciate having it.