How do so many lower income families afford braces for their teens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re a two parent house, college educated, decent careers. Even with supposed good insurance we really struggled to pay for braces for our two oldest. My youngest daughter plays on a cheap YMCA sports league and it seems basically every lower income teen her age has braces. Meanwhile we’re still saving $ to put her in braces. Where do they all find the $ for orthodontia? I’m at a loss as to how this is possible.

I'm struggling to understand how you can't come up with $3K - before insurance.

If you have two incomes, and decent careers - where is all of your income going.

Two years of braces and everything is not $3k - more like $5k+. And even if it was, that’s more than their car is worth, in some cases.

then you're getting royally ripped off.

You and the other person who said it was $4-10K are TOTALLY getting ripped off. I've got 2 kids in braces now and a 3rd one will get them next year. We pay about $2,500 for each kid. It's a set rate and includes all visits/follow up.

[Anonymous]

Braces aren’t always a purely cosmetic issue. Improving a child’s bite can make a big difference in future health.

And, yes, braces can also help a child’s appearance, maybe in a way that might improve the child’s ability to make a good impression in a job interview as an adult, which could lead to a better job, and a way out of poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re a two parent house, college educated, decent careers. Even with supposed good insurance we really struggled to pay for braces for our two oldest. My youngest daughter plays on a cheap YMCA sports league and it seems basically every lower income teen her age has braces. Meanwhile we’re still saving $ to put her in braces. Where do they all find the $ for orthodontia? I’m at a loss as to how this is possible.

I'm struggling to understand how you can't come up with $3K - before insurance.

If you have two incomes, and decent careers - where is all of your income going.

Two years of braces and everything is not $3k - more like $5k+. And even if it was, that’s more than their car is worth, in some cases.

then you're getting royally ripped off.

You and the other person who said it was $4-10K are TOTALLY getting ripped off. I've got 2 kids in braces now and a 3rd one will get them next year. We pay about $2,500 for each kid. It's a set rate and includes all visits/follow up.

you are naive. it depends on what is wrong with your kids' bites. glad you got lucky.

[Anonymous]

I highly doubt Medicaid pays for braces. Clearly dental care does not equal orthodontia. Just grievance peddling.

[Anonymous]

The same way the students in my high FARMS school can afford to pay for 5-10 family members to fly back to their countries- fraud. They lie about their incomes and how many people live in one household. My students are young so they don't know how to lie well- yet.

[Anonymous]

I think part of the answer lies in OP's question itself. She's asking how families of TEENS are affording braces.

As another PP pointed out, best practice is now to have the orthodonia completed before a child hits that age. Third through fifth grades, mostly.

So, these families are saving until their children are older than the ideal, because they DON'T just have $3K sitting around. It took them a while to save enough to pay. Hence the beater cars, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Braces aren’t always a purely cosmetic issue. Improving a child’s bite can make a big difference in future health.

And, yes, braces can also help a child’s appearance, maybe in a way that might improve the child’s ability to make a good impression in a job interview as an adult, which could lead to a better job, and a way out of poverty.

A good smile is very important in life, especially for teens, and as you said can help elevate your class status. Which is why I'm troubled that the rich can casually afford braces for their teens and apparently the poor can get them for free (?), but orthodontics may or most likely may not be in the cards for middle class teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They probably get it for “free” (#yourepayingforit).

Okay, how? I don’t want to pay another $7k.

The same way they qualify for their food stamps. They don’t work.

Many people on food stamps actually work minimum wage jobs. Maybe if states raised their minimum wages more people could get off food stamps. That was a novel idea floated by a wealthy R in CA.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-the-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Raising min wage will only make braces (among other things) more expensive for the rest of us.

Op this is just another example of how the middle class loses. We make too much to qualify for assistance yet too little to easily afford things like braces.

+1
I think this is where OP is coming from. My family is middle class and in this area that does not add up to much. It is tough to work hard, try to save, sacrifice many things and all those things that add up to "following the rules" yet you constantly see people richer getting more and people poorer being given assistance or opportunities that are not available to those who are fine overall but definitely struggle.

OK, if you think being poor is so much easier then why don't you try it and get all those wonderful subsidies they are getting?

I'm still waiting for OP to explain how she knows how much money some of these parents make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Braces aren’t always a purely cosmetic issue. Improving a child’s bite can make a big difference in future health.

And, yes, braces can also help a child’s appearance, maybe in a way that might improve the child’s ability to make a good impression in a job interview as an adult, which could lead to a better job, and a way out of poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they budget and save better than you do?

CNN says 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense, but low-income families have thousands laying around for (sometimes multiple) kids to get braces? Something doesn't add up.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-household-finances/index.html

[Anonymous]

https://www.mykoolsmiles.com/content/can-i-get-braces-with-medicaid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They probably get it for “free” (#yourepayingforit).

Okay, how? I don’t want to pay another $7k.

The same way they qualify for their food stamps. They don’t work.

Many people on food stamps actually work minimum wage jobs. Maybe if states raised their minimum wages more people could get off food stamps. That was a novel idea floated by a wealthy R in CA.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-the-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Raising min wage will only make braces (among other things) more expensive for the rest of us.

Op this is just another example of how the middle class loses. We make too much to qualify for assistance yet too little to easily afford things like braces.

OK, so don't raise the minimum wage, don't provide welfare, don't help poor people at all. Let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps?

Isn't this a similar argument for illegal immigrant workers? They pick your produce for dirt cheap so you can afford organic strawberries, but if we raise wages because American workers won't take these jobs for $10/hr, then we'd have to raise the price of food. Should we do that, too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they budget and save better than you do?

CNN says 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense, but low-income families have thousands laying around for (sometimes multiple) kids to get braces? Something doesn't add up.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-household-finances/index.html

Again, how do you know how much money these parents make and how much their expenses are?

[Anonymous]

Who the heck in DC is putting on braces for $3K?

Our DC needs 18 monthe of simple realignment and we were quoted $8K in NWDC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I highly doubt Medicaid pays for braces. Clearly dental care does not equal orthodontia. Just grievance peddling.

If it is medically necessary, yes they do pay.