Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine April 2017 | Page 22

Medicare Patients
Before purchasing a dental insurance plan, Medicare patients should check their medical policies. If you have a
Medicare Advantage plan, you may already have some dental coverage included with your health insurance coverage.
You may not need additional dental coverage unless there is a procedure(s) that is not covered by your Medicare
Advantage plan.
Annual Maximum Limit of Coverage
As mentioned before, most dental insurance
policies include a maximum annual benefit amount.
This amount is the maximum amount the insurance
company will pay for claims in a given year. Unused
benefits do not rollover to the next year, so it is
considered “use it or lose it”. If you are concerned
that you will not use all of your annual benefit,
you may want to add vision or hearing coverage
to your plan. If you have lots of dental work each
year, you will want to make sure that you purchase
a policy with a larger maximum benefit.
Some dental insurance plans also cover vision and
hearing procedures. The advantage to having all 3
on the same policy is that it increases your chances
of using all of your benefits each year. One year,
you may need more dental work. The next year,
you may spend more on eye care or hearing aids.
So, you have a better chance of using all or most of your annual benefit. However, if you exceed that annual benefit,
you will not have coverage for those procedures until the following year.
Before Your Purchase
Before purchasing your dental insurance,
be sure to check your health insurance
policy (or call your agent) to determine if
you already have coverage included in your
health insurance policy. If you have a favorite
dentist or facility, check that they accept the
policy you are considering purchasing. Be
sure that you know what procedures may
not ever be covered on the policy, or may
require you to wait several months or a year
before you try to use the benefits. Lastly, be
sure and check the annual limit on the policy
so that you know how much coverage you
will have for each year.
Dental care is important! Don’t let your
health suffer. Be sure to have a dentist check
your teeth and that of your family. Don’t
forget your pets’ dental care either!
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MOMENTUM / April 2017