In the summer I came to find out that my teeth are all fucked up due to two things:
An accident when I was little
Too many tetracyclines for ear infections
And now aged 26 I have the teeth of my granny(may she rest in peace) What an inheritance!
So with the help of a cool dentist I got a dental insurance plan, and waited the three month qualifying period to get my work done - they don’t cover existing problems but my dentist said she’d look the other way and treat me as insured after the 3 months. She didn’t have to do that, that’s awesome, I need loads of work.
So the three months are up. And the insurers *just *sent a letter saying they have made the following changes to all dental plans:
-Your monthly payment is now £21 instead of £18
-For this you get 50% of your treatment costs back, instead of 75%
-The treatment allowance has been cut from £2000 a year to £1000.
So do I cancel the insurance, because of the changed conditions and lose the fucking £18 a month I’ve spent and seen nothing?
Or do I suck it up and stay furious?!
Either way I pit the mean teefing insurers, luring me in with false hope and shonky promises.
This seem rather mild(for a first pit thread :)), but I am on a low income, full-time work and part-time student, funding my course fees, travel, books, rent etc everything myself. The money makes a huge difference.
I don’t know who oversees such insurance plans in the UK - here in the US I could try contacting my state’s insurance commissioner to see if such a move were legal. Is there any such oversight body where you are?
I have had major dental expenses, and no insurance whatsoever. I have spent many tens of thousands of dollars on my teeth, enough to buy a small house. You are not getting my sympathy.
They probably have WAY more right to do this than you and your dentist had right to defraud them. Yes, you were defrauding them, paying £18 per month to cover 75% of thousands, when pre-existing problems aren’t covered. No wonder they have to raise their rates and reduce their services, I guarantee that thousands of fraudsters like you and your dentist have been hammering these guys and this is the only way to stay in business for people who actually just want legitimate insurance, instead of a dental freebie.
You’re pissed off about “bloody bastardy dental thieves”, look in the mirror, it’s you.
My dentist does a combination of NHS and cosmetic, some things she cannot do on the NHS, eg molar root canals, costing £600 upwards. I have no idea why. It is a tiny little surgery.
Perhaps the fraud from both parties was justified, but at the time I saw it more that she could treat maybe one or two pre-existing conditions and then I would await the onslaught of the time I am entering now, which is the time my teeth will become seriously problematic.
I would challenge others to not take their dentist’s suggestion, when she looks in your mouth, tells you what you need, you realise you have no way of paying for it and she offers you a way that will cover it.
I’m going to spend some time with the small print.
Don’t let the Americans get you too down; they’re used to being assraped for medical-type insurance, and it has left them bitter. I’d stick with the insurance and dentist you’ve got (50% covered is better than a kick in the head) if there are no better plans out there. Are you looking into other plans?
Root canals aren’t covered on my dental insurance plan either, and I’m not sure why, either. Do they figure if it’s bad enough for a root canal you should just yank the tooth, or are root canals not all that effective so they don’t cover them? I’ve had one root canal done, and it hasn’t been very effective, but other people say they’re just fine.
I don’t want to waste the £18 a month I’ve already spent…I know that’s stingy but I just can’t afford to. Conclusion: I just straight up don’t understand dentists, or dental plans, or teeth.
I wondered idly if the root canals at the back are just more difficult to do in a normal surgery because they have to get your mouth open bigger? I just got my very back one extracted rather than arse around with root canals, and that did kind of hurt like a kick in the head!
You can get that on the NHS and it would cost about one third of that. Sounds like your dentist is pulling a fast one on you and not just your insurance.
It begins to look that way. I tend to start behaving like a world class wimp in the dentist’s chair, it looks increasingly likely that she saw me coming.
