No dental and vision coverage: What would you do?

[ssampier]

I just changed jobs. My old job had no insurance, zip. I purchased a personal individual health insurance for a few months. Never used it.

Now I have group health insurance. Yay! However, I was looking forward to full insurance, medical, dental, the whole nine yards. However, I am working for a school district and they do not have dental or vision coverage.

In this situation what is the best course of action? I was looking at individual dental insurance, but the companies looked fairly dicey. If I could find a reputable company I wouldn't paying upwords of $40 or $50 a month for both dental and vision coverage.

 

[Greylock]

Do you have kids?

 

[ssampier]

An Important point that I neglected to mention. No, I am single with no children.

 

[Greylock]

How old are you? Do you brush your teeth regularly?

Floss?

 

[adwyn]

Get yourself a credit card with a low interest and no annual fee for emergencies and just pay the $50 into a saving account.

Its not perfect but it is a far sight better than most people have.

 

[SteelDraco]

Do you wear or need to get glasses? I mean, if you're vision's fine, that's kind of silly to pay for, and if it starts to go, you can always start it up, and then go in.

Dental's nice to have, but if you take care of yourself, you're probably only going to need it for emergencies. Brush well, floss, and all that. Just don't take up skateboarding or anything wacky like that. An annual cleaning isn't going to be so expensive that it justifies $40 a month.

Speaking of, I just got my new insurance card from my upgrade to full-time. Need to go get several things taken care of (new contacts, a new eye perscription, and a full dental check-up). Gotta go schedule those.

 

[ssampier]

How old are you? Do you brush your teeth regularly?

Floss?

I am 25. I do brush (twice a day, I try to make it more than 2 minutes long each). I do floss regularly, I forget daily. I also use mouthwash on a regular basis (Listerine). My concern is that I haven't been to dentist in about 10 years.

As for vision, I do wear corrective lenses. I have a spare pair of glasses and I also wear contact lenses. The last glasses + checkup cost $350. My contacts run about $30 a box, about $225 a year or so.

 

[ssampier]

Get yourself a credit card with a low interest and no annual fee for emergencies and just pay the $50 into a saving account.

Its not perfect but it is a far sight better than most people have.

Other than savings account, that's what I did in the past for my vision. I would pay with a credit card and pay it off as fast I can.

 

[adwyn]

Other than savings account, that's what I did in the past for my vision. I would pay with a credit card and pay it off as fast I can.

For a single person under 35 that can be a good way to go if no catastrophic emergencies occur, especially as many dental and vision plans have annual and lifetime caps buried in the fine print that make them meaningless.

The big thing is A) maintain the discipline in continuing to stash some away after you've payed off your balance and B) shopping prices around a little. Ask about cash discounts - many healthcare providers will give them simply for the labor savings in not billing insurance.

 

[ssampier]

For a single person under 35 that can be a good way to go if no catastrophic emergencies occur, especially as many dental and vision plans have annual and lifetime caps buried in the fine print that make them meaningless.

The big thing is A) maintain the discipline in continuing to stash some away after you've payed off your balance and B) shopping prices around a little. Ask about cash discounts - many healthcare providers will give them simply for the labor savings in not billing insurance.

I have paid cash for my vision for years and never once gotten a single discount.

I wish there was a (legal) way to put pre-tax cash toward vision and dental expenses. Since I have group insurance, I am not eligible for a HSA. Oh well.