Dental Insurance

Dental coverage ensures the health of your teeth, gums and prevents heart disease. Without coverage, you may be tempted to skip regular cleanings and checkups, a decision that could lead to serious dental health problems.

Types of Coverage

Dental insurance is categorized as indemnity or managed-care plans. The difference is around out-of-pocket costs, choice of providers, and how bills are paid.

Basic Dental Insurance Coverage differs from policy to policy. Read the fine print of your policy to understand what is covered. Dental insurance includes three main categories:

  1. Preventive/ Diagnostic care is included with most plans cover a large part or all the costs associated with services such as cleaning, checkups, and other services to prevent tooth and gum disease. 

  2. Basic Dental plans may cover basic procedures such as fillings, extractions, and other basic procedures.

  3. Major dental care is not offered in all plans. Some will cover a portion or percentage of these costs. Major care can include dental surgery, orthodontics, dentures, and other expensive dental procedures. 

Vision Insurance

Vision coverage will often cover routine eye health expenses such as exams, contact lens fittings, contact lenses, and eyeglass lenses/ frames. Some plans may even provide a discount on LASIK procedures and other corrective surgeries.   

A vision care plan may cover the cost of these items in total, up to a preset limit, or it may require the policyholder to pay a flat fee or percentage fee.

Vision care insurance tends to be inexpensive compared to other types of insurance because many of the covered costs are predictable and expensive claims are rare. It resembles a discount plan more closely than an actual insurance plan because insurance protects against unforeseen and potentially catastrophic expenses.  

It's essential you fully understand each plan's costs and the benefits they come with when you buy vision care insurance. Take a look at the price for one year of vision insurance compared with the cost of an eye exam. Although vision care insurance is inexpensive, it may not be a good deal for the consumer if the premiums and co-payment under the plan are higher than paying for vision care expenses out of pocket.

Vision insurance is usually sold as an add-on to health insurance from your employer or you can purchase it separately.