My 78 year old husband needs a lot of dental work. Think teeth pulled, implants and crowns. I don’t know what he watches either on TV or his tablet but he keeps telling me about ads for a government program that helps people over 65 with dental expenses. I’m skeptical. Is there really something out there to help seniors pay for dental work? We have dental insurance through my employer, I’m retired. It’s minimal and max annual “payout” is $2,000.
There’s a pretty good insurance program for retired educators. Have you considered contacting a dental school? I hear sometimes they do cheap or free dental work so students can learn.
Thanks for the reply. I’m actually more trying to verify or disprove what my husband has been hearing about some government program that helps seniors over age 65 pay for some/all dental costs.
Check this out, bonwhardy:
Your husband is likely listening to ads for Medicare Advantage plans…and many of them offer significant amounts of reimbursement money to help pay for dental expenses. That is part of the allure to consider an advantage plan versus a Medicare supplement. There are however dental insurance plans that will go up to $10K of coverage, but most are $1000-2000 max per year. You just need to get past any waiting periods and then hope you dentist will participate.
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Yes, I frequently see commercials where Advantage Plans advertize dental coverage
After you use your insurance for 2 grand get the “CareCredit” card. It is not free money but it helps you stretch out payments over time. No interest if you pay on time and pay the last payment on time (hint hint, pay quite early.)
When I’ve had larger stuff done, like crowns and a root canal, I used CC and took 2 years to pay, no interest.
And all the Medicare advantage dental plans I have encountered are junk except the one offered by Cigna.
None offer free care except in the rare instance of clinical trials for research. Supplies cost too much. Treatment by students costs about 33% of fees by private dentists. Treatment by residents (specialists in training) costs about 50%. Treatment by faculty costs the same as it does by private dentists.
Beware that saving money by treatment by students take a LOT of time. Our stand appointments in school were 3 to 4 hours. There is a lot of waiting for professors to check every step of treatment.
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You couldn’t pay me to accept an advantage plan of any kind. They all sound really great…until you actually need real medical care.
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That’s the part that gets missed
By the way if your employer provides health insurance upon retirement and I’m eligible for Medicare Part B, is it better to just have Medicare or is it best to have both?
The only requirement is I elect the insurance five years before I retire. Between copays, premiums, and deductibles, my wife’s employer offers insurance at half this cost; it takes a $3,000 deductible to have a premium cost equal to my wife’s
I agree. The dental portion of the Cigna Medicare Advantage Plan is good, but the medical part is crap like the other Medicare Advantage plans.
Depends on if the Medicare alternative reimburses decent fees. Personally, I would avoid Medicare for as long as you can. I am having trouble finding MDs who want new Medicare patients.
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Don’t blame them. Reimbursement rates are too low
As I told non-believers a long time ago: there is a decision point coming. Government put a gun to providers’ heads and say- “Do the procedures at OUR low price- or else!”
Don’t know about medicine, but the People’s Republic of Minnesota has decreed that any dentist that will not treat Moochercaid patients will lose his license. What happens is paying patients will pay more, thus subsidizing money-losing Medicaid treatment.
I see mandates coming to treat Medicare patients as well. The scary part is physicians will have to lower the standard of care to turn a profit. That is why I see the future of offshore care paid out-of-pocket. Alternately, Medicare could approve offshore surgical sites. However, it would be an administrative nightmare.
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Do you rather see a dental hygienist, pediatrician, or psychiatrist that sees two patients an hour or twelve an hour? Do you really think teeth can be cleaned not to mention cleaned properly by a hygienist that sees 12 people an hour? What about a psychiatrist? Can they truly diagnose and properly medicate a patient when they’re seen for 2-5 minutes?
Very true. 30 minutes of psychiatry private pay or 2 minutes if you’re a Medicaid patient.
Out of pocket care may seem not worth it till you realize the cost of “free” care. Delayed treatment can be very harmful whether it’s medical, psychiatric, or dental care
The big problem I have found in participating in low-reimbursement programs is the standard of care for that group becomes the standard of care for all.
Suppose that you have a Medicaid population and have to schedule patients every 15 minutes. You play fast and loose with the billing codes to eke out a profit.
It is hard to switch gears and practice completely differently when a full-pay patient comes in. So the standard of care for low-paying programs becomes the standard of care for all patients, and you end up losing many full-pay patients.
In every place I visit, government interference works to lower the standard of care, while increasing its availability.
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Which is abysmal equal outcome for everyone. Everyone should be entitled to pay for better care and for honest dentistry.
Destroy preventive dentistry. Makes routine appointments meaningless if you’re not cleaning and just polishing teeth. Need to remove plaque and tartar
Availability is not virtue. Quality is