The dental insurance the union offers retired employees has gone up to around $1300 for my spouse and me, so I’m wondering if any dopers have experience getting dental insurance on the open market. What I’m mostly wondering is how good the coverage is, since I know what I’m getting from the union plan (US Healthcare, btw).
We use MetLife for employee & retiree dental. Works well, is cheap. I think they offer individual coverage. Worth a look.
It depends on what kind of dental insurance you need. I was expecting large dental bills in 2026 and purchased a policy from delta dental that cost me much less than $1300, but it excludes routine dental exams, which fortunately are covered by my Medicare Advantage PPO plan. Are you expecting expensive dental work in 2027, or mainly just routine coverage?
I’ve gotten dental insurance:
- Through my employer
- On the marketplace
- Via my partner’s plan
- Via my dentist’s “membership” program directly
Overall they are all very similar.
It’s fine if it’s cheap enough, but do the math… they are often not much better than just paying out of pocket. It’s not like health insurance where they protect you from catastrophic charges; they just have some low-ish cap and a bunch of restrictions. It basically boils down to some preventative care and maybe a discount on major procedures. Maybe.
Know what you’re actually paying for (it’s not much):
On the Marketplace you should still be able to view the details of the plan and coverages before you buy it. Never subscribe blind; read the fine print or ask an AI to compare it for you — just toss all the PDFs at it and some sample visits you’ve had in the last few years.
My wife and I have each gotten one crown over the years, but nothing beyond that. The vast majority has just been routine care.
Then it’s mostly a matter of checking the preventative coverage vs the premiums and co-pays, and checking with your preferred dentist whether they accept that plan and are considered in-network, and whether they offer a membership program of their own. Sometimes it might also make sense to not get dental insurance at all and just pay out of pocket for routine care.
You just gotta do the math. If you’re lazy, fine, dental insurance takes out some of the math complexity, but you may or may see any real savings. It’s really not like health insurance where not having it exposes you to a potential bankruptcy risk.
Honestly, I don’t think it makes a huge difference either way. Read the articles… it’s not really a scam, it’s just not as 1) necessary or 2) beneficial as people want to believe.
(Edit: Also make sure you check waiting periods. Some plans force you to wait X months before you can get major work done.)
I had Delta Dental for a few years. During that time, my dentist accepted their coverage, meaning he accepted their discounted reimbursement rates for services. I had some extensive dental work performed to the tune of about $5,000 and my coverage was limited to $1,000, so I maxed out, and Delta paid the $1,000.
For me, the real benefit was the discounted rates my dentist had agreed to, meaning he would charge me no more than the discounted rate for the procedures above my coverage. This reduced his billing to me by about $1,800, and my out-of-pocket was about $2,200 for the $5,000 amount. Obviously, for me this was a good deal.
Afterward, my dentist advised me he was withdrawing from the Delta program and would no longer adhere to their discounted rates for procedures. My annual premium was a little over $500, and with a cap of $1,000, I realized I would be paying $500 annually in premiums but could only realize potential coverage of $500 after deducting my premium. Further, this would only occur if I hit the exact maximum, which I had never come close to previously. Naturally, any amount above the maximum is out-of-pocket with no discount.
I cancelled Delta and have no regrets, and since these coverages are similar, I have no desire to ever purchase another plan. My advice is to set aside what you would pay in premiums and use that for your anticipated routine care.
Just out of curiosity, how much does that plan pay out each year? My dental plan pays a maximum of $1,500 per year, but it’s less than $500 a year in premiums.
Yeah, it’s the great conundrum of modern-day dental insurance. I just mentioned this in another thread, but with my old full-employment Delta Cobra plan expiring in a few months and my Delta retirement plan being pure shit, I’ve been forced to start researching an alternative that is worth it. My dentist, who I like and have been going to for twenty years (father to son family practice) is not in network with any plan. They accept PPO insurance, but I’ve yet to find one where it is worth the cost for standard out of network care. At the point I think I might as well just use my dentist’s own coverage which will save me costs on basic care, but will run a lot if I need serious work. To date I haven’t needed any serious work (literally just had a cleaning/exam - no cavities, nothing else of note, good for another six months), so it might be worth the risk. A PPO like Metlife will cost me much more for basic care, but might save me a few bucks on a double-root canal or something. Just depends on where you think you’ll need to spend.
$3500. Still, not sure it’s worth it given what we’ve usually spent.
Thats interesting. A lot of plans max out at $1000 a year in payments.
If all you need is exams and fillings, a dental discount plan like careington may be an option instead of insurance.
Based on the comments in this thread, I will definitely be taking a look at our dental insurance. It’s only helped us when my wife had to get a crown, and it helped to (slightly) pay for the expensive oral surgery I had a couple of years ago.
But overall, it’s probably not worth it. I’ll certainly be talking with my dentist to see if they have any options.
My experience: Dental insurance is great if someone else is paying for most of it, e.g. your employer.
If you have to pay the full price yourself it’s rarely worth it.
Exactly. I think this is the primary benefit of dental insurance: An employer is likely to pay for the premiums, so you enjoy the discounts and preventative care essentially “for free”.
But it’s generally 50/50 whether those perks are worth it if you have to pay the unsubsidized premium yourself.