Open Wide and say "Aaaah!"

I'm not a big fan of dental insurance, especially when one buys it outside of a group plan. There are a number of reasons for this: chief among them is that, generally speaking, it's trading dollars with the carrier. So I don't usually sell it (although folks have bought it from me), There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, and one of those would be group plans where the employer (and/or a flex plan) subsidises the premium.

One of the major problems with dental coverage is that the maximum annual benefit is usually severely limited (often to $1,000 a year). That is, no matter what you have done, the carrier won't pay out more than that amount in a given year. This means that, when you're reimbursed $50 for a cleaning, that's $50 less available for that root canal. As we saw in the case of the woman in Arizona who beat her breast cancer, chipping away at policy limits can be problematic.

But what if an recurring expense didn't count toward that maximum?

Recently, Assurant's Jacquie Hill wrote to tell me that her carrier has developed a new product which does just that:

"With Preventive Max Waiver, dental plan members continue to receive the same coverage for preventive dental services, such as exams, cleanings and x-rays, that they're accustomed to, but the benefit paid does not count toward their annual benefit maximum, giving them more benefit dollars for other costlier dental procedures they may need, such as root canals and crowns."

Hmm.

This benefit, available on the company's group-based dental policies, may be just what the dentist ordered. Why is that? Well, it means that one doesn't have to juggle that bite-wing x-ray against a crown. And these "little" expenses can add up:

"Our internal data has shown that the average cost for two exams, two cleanings and a set of bitewing x-rays is $281. Without Preventive Max Waiver, that amount would be subtracted from an insured's annual benefit maximum, leaving a plan member who has a $1,000 annual maximum with just $719 in benefits for the remainder. However, with Preventive Max Waiver, the same plan member would have a full $1,000 in benefit dollars remaining to use during the year."

So there's almost $300 a year that suddenly becomes available for more expensive dental work (if necessary). There is, of course, a charge for the waiver; it's based on "internal data and the characteristics of an individual group." One imagines, however, that this would be relatively modest.

It will be interesting to see if other non-medical carriers pick up on this. And, of course, if our readers are aware of any such, please let us know.

In the meantime, a big Thank You to Jacquie Hill at Assurant.