Dentures: Facts, Figures and Friendly Advice for Seniors

How to Get Affordable Dental Treatments through Your Private Health Insurance

8 May 2015

Herman Kim

If you have private health insurance it make sense to maximise your benefits so that you and your family get the most affordable dental care. Here are some tips to make sure your care doesn't break the bank.

Maximise your free check-ups and cleanings

Most dental insurance plans offer two free check-ups and cleanings each year. Make sure to make use of these as regular check-ups find any dental issues when they are still minor, and can be a fixed easily and cheaply (for example it is cheaper to smooth small caries vs. doing deep filling and having root canal treatments). Scale and cleans help to remove hardened plaque, especially at the gum line which can prevent future decay.

Find a provider that works with your insurance

Most of the healthy insurance companies have a list of dental providers that they have worked with, to provide a certain percentage of any treatment back as a claim. Finding a provider that has an agreement with your health insurance provider should maximise your rebate from the health insurance firms.

Free treatments for children

Many of the large insurers offer gap free dental treatments for children, including fillings, X-rays and other dental treatments. If any of your children are approaching independence—leaving home, earning over prescribed incomes levels or reaching the cut-off age, then it's an excellent idea to get your child in for an early appointment to get any ongoing issues resolved. Getting an early idea of the treatments required can let you plan out some long term treatment plans so that it doesn't all need to get done at once.

Stagger treatments

Discuss your private health coverage with your doctor so that you can plan when your treatments occur. For example if you need four crowns, and your insurance only covers 2 crowns per year, you may be able to stagger your treatments to occur over two 'insurance' years. With some providers the insurance year is a calendar year, whereas for others it is the anniversary of when your cover started or the financial year. Contact your private health provider to see which year they use, so you can plan out any treatments to get maximum rebates.

With some discussions with your dentist and planning on your part, it is possible to get some affordable dental care by maximising the benefits available through your private health insurance providers. Consult resources like Eden Rise Dental to learn more.

Share

Search