Dental Insurance Shortcomings Causing Rapid Rise in Dental Savings Plans

Dental Insurance Shortcomings Causing Rapid Rise in Dental Savings Plans
February 9, 2005
The high cost of quality supplemental healthcare has given rise to affordable dental savings plans. Dental savings plan leader, AmeriPlan, offers an inexpensive program that also provides prescription, vision, and chiropractic savings.
The high cost of quality supplemental healthcare is making traditional dental insurance obsolete, according to Julia Baker, Sr. Vice President of AmeriPlan Provider Relations. In a speech before the American Dental AssociationÇƒÙs Benefits Conference, Baker conveyed that dental savings plans are rapidly filling the gap for the seven out of ten Americans who are without dental insurance coverage.
Çƒ?Affordability, convenience and thousands of high-quality nationwide providers are the three top reasons that people are turning away from traditional dental insurance and turning toward dental savings plans,Çƒ? said Baker. Currently ranked as the top dental plan in the United States by the American Dental Association, AmeriPlan offers a discount card program that differs from dental insurance in a number of ways.
Unlike dental insurance, the discount card does not prevent services based on pre-existing conditions. There are no dental insurance deductibles. Because fees are paid directly to providers, there are no dental insurance claim forms to fill out. And where dental insurance may limit provider changes, AmeriPlan membership allows such changes anytime. Members receive direct discounts of 25 to 80 percent from AmeriPlan providers for all forms of dental services except orthodontics already in progress. Services include dental implants and cosmetic dentistry that regular dental insurance does not.
According to discount card members, the savings can be significant. Mack Marconi, an AmeriPlan member from New York, had x-rays and a tooth extraction for $57 that would have cost him $345 without the discount card. Other members use the AmeriPlan discount combined with dental insurance they already have to make their dental visits cost even less.
In AmeriPlanÇƒÙs program, free vision, prescription drug and chiropractic care are included with the dental for a membership fee of less than $12.00 per month or $19.95 for families, including relatives and significant others permanently residing at the residence. Çƒ?Automatic coverage in these four important areas means an affordable alternative to dental insurance and other supplemental healthcare is now available,Çƒ? said Julia Baker of AmeriPlan. Çƒ?There are almost 100,000 healthcare professionals nationwide who have agreed to extend these discounts to members through AmeriPlan.Çƒ?
There are more differences between savings cards and standard dental insurance programs. With dental insurance, there may be an age limit or a limit on the number of doctor visits, a patient may not be able to change provider doctors at anytime or a personÇƒÙs dental insurance may not be good throughout the country. The savings plan allows all three.
It wonÇƒÙt be long before dental savings plans overtake traditional dental insurance, according to Baker. To learn more about dental savings plans with free vision, medication, and chiropractic discounts, visit www.MyBenefitsPlus.com/kevin2 or call 800-605-5024. Special grocery coupons are currently available to new online registrants.
About AmeriPlan
Established in 1992, AmeriPlan is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It has been named Çƒ?AmericaÇƒÙs Premier Dental PlanÇƒ? by the American Dental Association and is a member of the Dallas Better Business Bureau and the Direct Selling Association. Hundreds of millions of dollars in savings have been made by paying significantly discounted fees using the AmeriPlan¨? provider network. The savings are more when members use both a savings plan and dental insurance.