What dental care is covered under HCR?

[Hello_Kitty]

There was a thread earlier questioning why dental care isn't generally included in the definition of health care. I surmise it's because policymakers tend to be the kind of people who have had dental care (and access to good hygiene) their entire lives and are unfamiliar with the experience of a rotting infected untreated tooth that is not only painful but can threaten your very life. Thus, they think of dental care as mostly cosmetic and not something that ought to be considered basic medical care. It's just a guess but I think I'm on target.

I can't understand government gobbledygook so reading the HCR bill is useless to me. Do the plans in the exchange cover dental services? Will employer plans be required to include it?

[napi21]

1. AFAIK dental care is NOT included. Can't say that I read

every word in the law, but I don't recall any discussion of it at all. I know Medicare only covers treatment of a dental problem IF it is determined to be the root cause of a health condition.

My experience with the currently available dental ins. has been bad & simply not worth the expense. My husband had it through his job & other than paying for one cleaning a year, and 1 extraction, it didn't cover anything else. My son has dental ins. through his job with a very large co. that has always had a reputation for haveing great benefits, and his only covers one cleaning per year, and when his daughter had to get braces, they cost my son $well over $2,000 not including all the adjustments and bands etc. I don't know what the companies are paying for this ins. but IMO it isn't worth it!

[DesertFlower]

2. we pay $74 a month for our dental.

we each have a $50 deductible. max payout is $2,000 each. they cover 2 cleanings. we each get 3. the last 2 years they gave me a hard time paying for crowns.

we've decided we're not going to take it anymore.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Dental care is not covered even in socialist Canada

We have to be on a Dental Insurance program to be covered. At least here in Ontario.

Fortunately, most companies cover it with a plan of some sort.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. What about poor people? Do they get coverage?

Considering how important teeth are to life and health, it's bizarre to me that dental care wouldn't be included in health care as a matter of course. Then again, there's my theory about policy makers being oblivious to the need for it.

[Oregone]

6. Yes.

And children of lower income people (even if they aren't considered "poor") have options too

[Canuckistanian]

10. Yes

I believe it's covered under Ontario welfare laws.

[DesertFlower]

15. medicaid covers dental work, but

medicare does not.

[Change has come]

18. Nevada medicaid covers extractions and dentures only.

It won't even cover cleaning anymore. They will replace dentures every two years.

[DesertFlower]

19. i guess things have changed.

i worked for a dentist back in the early 70sin new york. i did his medicaid billing. they covered fillings back then. about 3/4 of his practice was medicaid.

[Oregone]

5. BC MSP covers teeth extractions. The rest is a qualified write-off as far as I know

Its still a bitch

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Is the coverage good?

Is it costly?

[Canuckistanian]

8. It's fairly good

Most routine procedures are covered. I think there's a $200 deductible on major procedures on mine. That's fairly common.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. That's a damn sight better than anything here in the US. eom

[juajen]

11. Dental care is what sets the rich apart from the riff raff. NT

[Hello_Kitty]

12. Exactly. eom

[G_j]

13. yep

well said

[DesertFlower]

17. when i was young, my mom felt

it was more important to pay tuition for catholic school than to send me to the dentist. needless to say by the time i got to a dentist i had a tooth ache and it had to be extracted.

right now i have 10 implants and a lot of crowns. i think i only have 5 natural teeth that don't have crowns on them. most of my teeth have had root canal too.

i've got a mercedes in my mouth.

[DesertFlower]

14. you can get dental care at the dental schools.

my niece just finished her hygienist training. they had the clinic -- $10.00 for a cleaning and $2.50 for x-rays.

my friend in new york used to go to NYU dental school for his dental work.

[inna]

16. Quick answer: no and no.

"Do the plans in the exchange cover dental services? Will employer plans be required to include it?"

[MilesColtrane]

20. I'm looking at 4.5k for an extraction and implant.

No insurance that I know of would cover it.

Looks like it's time to start perusing baby food reviews.

[tkmorris]

21. Mine covers it

It covers it only at something like 50%, but it does cover it. One advantage I have found to being covered is that often what the insurance company has agreed to pay for a given procedure is less than the dentist would charge if you paid cash. Even when my max yearly benefit has run out he is still charging me the lower rate, even though insurance no longer is paying.

In the end though we are still paying enough to have purchased a small Caribbean island instead if we had wished. Dental care is ridonkulously expensive.

[REP]

23. Cantilever bridge is cheaper and covered

If you're like me and missing too many teeth for a bridge, there are other options besides implants. And trust me, missing a tooth (or 5) doesn't mean you can't chew solids!

[LostinVA]

25. Go to Costa Rica and get it done

I'm serious.

[JoeyT]

22. I'm not sure how much good it would be, even if it were covered by HCR.

Pretty much anything other than extraction would be considered "cosmetic".
So the social markers would still exist.

I'm told even after the tooth is extracted it continues to screw your life up. I have a friend that has missing front teeth from a car accident and he can't get a job *anywhere*. Of course they won't tell him that's the reason, but that is pretty much the reason. It's assumed "missing front teeth" = "smokes meth". Of course he could have it fixed for the low low price of six thousand dollars, which is the lowest quote he could find. And there's no guarantee that his $6k teeth wouldn't break the next day leaving him SOL again.

I haven't the faintest idea what can be done about the state of dentistry in this country. It's too expensive, there's no warranty, insurance (if you can get it) is absolutely worthless.

[Fumesucker]

24. I have a friend who makes dentures...

He made some for me, I even took my own impressions with materials he provided, he would not touch me because it is unethical for him to do so since he is not a dentist.

What he told me is you can have a set of impressions made "for identification purposes" at a dentist for around $150 and then anyone who makes dentures can make you a set from those impressions. When you get the "identification" impressions made, you walk away with them.