Fed gov dental insurance

[Anonymous]

New to government and trying to decide on a dental plan. Kids are in college. Molars already removed. Mostly routine maintenance for everyone. Want a plan that has strong dentists in-network. What works for you?

[Anonymous]

It’s not worth it for routine maintenance. A lot of strong dentists aren’t participating anymore.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Was considering Delta Dental Basic or UnitedConcordia Basic. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I use United (not United Concordia) because it's the only one my dentist accepts and I like her.

[Anonymous]

We have never had it. BCBS Basic incles 30 cleaning. We pay out of pocket for the rest. Only 1 year when DH needed a crown did we end up paying more than the insurance.

[Anonymous]

I've used MetLife for family coverage for quite a while. We switched the kids to their Dad's insurance because MetLife significantly reduced their orthodontic coverage this year (from $2000 cap to $1500 cap; new provider's cap is $2500).

I ended up switching to BCBS for just me. It's probably a waste because I haven't needed any dental work done since I was a kid (I have weirdly strong teeth) so I'm paying for coverage I don't really need. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and all my teeth to simultaneously develop issues though.

[Anonymous]

Geha is the best as most doc will take it and have decent fees

Delta and Care First wost carriers around and most docs around here are dropping.

signed a dentist

[Anonymous]

We only had dental insurance when my kid needed braces. Other than that its just not worth it. In 10 years I had 1 cavity filled ($350) and got a mouth guard ($250). I think we paid out of pocket for some fluoride rinses for the kids. Cleanings were covered by medical insurance. Dental insurance would have been many many $1000s over those years. If you have bad teeth and expect to have a lot of work or need oral surgery it might be worth it, but most plans only cover something like 50%.

[Anonymous]

Have you asked your dentist which, if any, insurance they take? When I started as a fed, my dentist accepted two insurances, so I picked one of those.

[Anonymous]

I asked my dentist which they recommended and went with that (MetLife). Once we are done with orthodontia we will likely drop it though.

[Anonymous]

I have GEHA high option. Both our and the kids dentists do not participate in insurance so we get the out of network benefits, but dental is expensive regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geha is the best as most doc will take it and have decent fees

Delta and Care First wost carriers around and most docs around here are dropping.

signed a dentist

Delta and Care First are the most common. I'd be really surprized if any dentist is dropping them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geha is the best as most doc will take it and have decent fees

Delta and Care First wost carriers around and most docs around here are dropping.

signed a dentist

Delta and Care First are the most common. I'd be really surprized if any dentist is dropping them.

You're mistaken, providers have left care first and delta big time. Either crappy office with crazy double booking schedules, docs who work on volume and the older gheezer doc that doesn't really care are left taking them. Just saying, I know the industry in and out

[Anonymous]

I called a good practice in the area and asked: they recommended Cigna, met life, or delta (they don’t take any specific insurance but will file claims if you have a PPO). They said united is the worst to deal with.

But then I looked at the premiums and I still don’t really think it’s worth it for my family. We are done with braces and coverage for big stuff isn’t even that great.

[Anonymous]

We're stuck with Aetna because we have a kid in the middle of braces. But both our pediatric dentist and the dentist we adult see have dropped them in the past couple years.

If we could switch I was looking at MetLife. It seems like everyone is dropping the orthodontia cap.