Vision and dental insurance is an important part of keeping you—and your budget—healthy.
The health of our eyes and mouths is no less important than that of the rest of our bodies. But vision and dental insurance are often excluded from traditional health insurance. While a health insurance plan can aid in the cost of a broken arm or a skin infection, most health plans will not cover dental or vision. So if you go into a dentist with a cracked tooth, you may be walking out paying an arm and a leg.
The Three Types of Dental Plans
- In an HMO, you’ll have a primary care physician (PCP) along with a network of physicians and dental or medical facilities approved by your insurance provider. You’ll receive your dental or vision care from those offices as directed by your PCP.
- With a PPO, you are not restricted by a PCP and have some more freedom to visit physicians and facilities outside of the network.
- Indemnity plans reimburse the customer for services rendered once a claim is submitted to the insurance provider.
The Cost of Not Having Dental Insurance
Many people avoid the dentist simply because they don’t like going. Others stay away because they don’t enjoy the cost. In fact, some 108 million Americans do not have dental insurance, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But the ones that do will incur many of the same out-of-pocket expenses as regular health insurance, including premiums, deductibles, and copayments or coinsurance.
While this may seem like a burden, it can pale in comparison to the cost of some dental care services without insurance.
Listed below are some average shelf prices for common dental services.
- Exams (including x-rays and cleaning) = $288
- Fillings (single, silver-amalgam filling) = $50 to $150
- Tooth extractions (non-surgical, gum-erupted) = $75 to $300
- Crowns (single resin) = $328
- Root canals (single, exposed) = $120
“When you go to the dentist, it’s going to be much cheaper if you have dental insurance,” says Dr. Harold Katz, founder of the California Breath Clinics and author of The Bad Breath Bible. “While many people forgo the insurance because of the cost, usually dental insurance will save you money, especially if you have to have any procedure done that is not a regular cleaning.”
Vision Insurance
People with vision insurance are twice as likely to schedule a routine eye exam as those who do not. And according to Dr. Burt Dubow, a St. Cloud, Minnesota optometrist, “a very thorough eye exam will catch eye disease and discover health issues you may not have known you have, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, even brain tumors.”
What Vision Insurance Covers
Like health insurance, vision insurance can aid with the cost of examinations, treatments, prescriptions, surgical procedures, and equipment. Some of the things most commonly covered by vision insurance plans include:
Eye exams. This preventive care measure is generally performed once a year and involves a series of tests to gauge the health of your eyes across several different parameters. The things tested for during an eye exam can include the sharpness of your vision, color blindness, how your eyes work together as a unit, a presence of glaucoma, your range of peripheral vision, and more. Eye exams can be instrumental in providing an early detection of eye disease, any developing vision problems, or a need for corrective lenses.
Eyewear. Glasses (frames and lenses alike) and contact lenses can be expensive but are often at least partially covered by vision insurance. Some vision insurance plans may limit coverage to eyewear purchased through your optometrist or a network-approved vision center. Sometimes, even prescription sunglasses may be covered.
Lens coatings and enhancements. Some vision insurance plans can help with the cost of a lens coating. Lenses can be coated with substances to decrease scratching, fog and moisture, reflections, and exposure to ultraviolet rays.
Surgery. Surgeries that are deemed medically necessary, such as a procedure to treat an eye injury, infection, or disease, will often be covered by a health insurance plan. But corrective surgery, such as LASIK, is generally not covered by health insurance because it is deemed by many insurance providers to be an elective or “cosmetic” surgery. However, there are some vision insurance plans and discount programs that will partially cover such elective procedures.
Pulling 2015 data from a leading provider of vision insurance, the table below illustrates what you can expect to pay—and save—with a vision insurance plan featuring a $204 annual premium.
Service | Cost without insurance | Cost with insurance | Savings with insurance |
Eye exam | $154 | $15 (copay) | $139 |
Eyeglass frames | $159 | $9 | $150 |
Eyeglass lenses | $86 | $25 (copay) | $61 |
Lens enhancements | $268 | $170 | $98 |
Total | $667 | $423 | $244 |
Where to Get Vision and Dental
When you’re ready to take the next step toward acquiring vision or dental insurance, let HCIP help. One of our licensed agents will be ready to guide you toward a dental, vision, or another type of supplemental health insurance plan that will fill the gaps in your coverage, fit your needs, and fit your budget alike. Just call (800) 217-9249 to get started.