The Upstate Life

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Dental Dumbfoundment

So I'm having quite the conundrum regarding whether to drop my dental insurance or not. You see, despite the debridement debacle, I have an excellent dentist. She's covered under my health insurance which provides decent dental benefits. Meanwhile, I've also been enrolled in an additional dental insurance plan for the last two years. I don't know why I did it at the time, but when I was a new entrant into the workforce, I thought it would be a good idea since my parents were proponents of it. Since it was one of those HMO deals, I was required to select a dental office from their very limited network. The problem is I've still been going to my other dentist since she's incredibly good at what she does, and of course, her office isn't covered by the supplemental dental plan. In essence, I haven't been to my HMO dentist. Not once. I've actually been paying $20 co-pays for examinations using my health insurance rather than no charge with my dental since I'm afraid to jump ship to what could perhaps be not as good a dentist compared to who I'm currently using. The dental plan, on the other hand, does offers some excellent benefits and pricing (it even includes braces, which I've already had, but still), but if all I'm going for are routine appointments such as exams and cleanings, what's the point? I'm paying about $80 per quarter ($320/year) for the supplemental insurance, yet in the meantime, I fortunately haven't required any of the more extensive work that this plan benefits from. Therein lies the question: Do I drop my dental insurance or continue to stay enrolled? Bear in mind, you're going to be answering to one of the most indecisive people you've ever met. Took me a good minute or two debating if I wanted an apple cinnamon or strawberry flavor Nutri-Grain bar this morning.

Posted by Brett at 2:53 PM |