Insurance coverage can be confusing at times, especially when you are dealing with different policies that relate to your health. Many people find it challenging to understand the difference between dental insurance and medical insurance. This blog post seeks to clear things up so you can use your coverage to your greatest advantage.
An Overview of Dental Insurance
A typical dental insurance plan focuses primarily on preventive care. It usually covers 100% of the price of services like cleanings, checkups, and routine X-Rays. It is also great for helping patients save on minor restorative care; fillings and other relatively simple procedures may be 80% covered or so. Major restorative services might be covered at just 50%.
To get the greatest value out of your dental coverage, you should be diligent about attending preventive appointments twice a year. By doing so, you may avoid the need for major restorative services and save yourself hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of dollars.
An Overview of Medical Insurance
Medical insurance is much broader in scope than dental insurance. It covers preventive care, such as physicals and routine blood work. (However, it does not cover preventive dental services.) Medical insurance is most useful when unexpected health problems occur. Whether you are facing a serious disease or get injured in an accident, your policy can spare you from having to pay thousands of dollars — or more — out of pocket. Unlike dental insurance, medical policies do not have an annual maximum. (An annual maximum is the greatest dollar amount that an insurance company is willing to pay out within a calendar year.)
In some cases, your medical policy might help you with issues that relate to your oral health. For example, it might cover diagnosis and treatment for types of cancer that affect the mouth and surrounding tissues. Dental insurance is less likely to cover those services.
Overlap Between Dental and Medical Insurance
Although medical and dental insurance are quite different, there is a bit of overlap between them in some cases. For example, dental insurance usually covers oral surgery. In some instances, those same surgeries might be covered by your medical policy as well. This is sometimes the case with procedures like dental implant placement and wisdom tooth removal.
By communicating with your insurance companies and asking your dental team for help, you can navigate your coverage in a way that saves you the most money.
Using your insurance to your greatest advantage may be a challenge at times. Once you familiarize yourself with both your dental and medical plan, you can utilize both policies in a way that keeps you healthy and doesn’t break your budget.
Meet the Practice
Dr. Milad Rabban and our team are proud to provide a wide array of high-quality dental services to the residents of Clinton Township and the surrounding communities. We are an insurance-friendly practice that is in-network with a few major policies. To learn how we can help you use your coverage in the best way possible, contact us at 586-416-1444.