Which Do You Prefer Dental Insurance or Discount Dental Plans (Fee for Service)?

What plan is best for you and your family? If you don't have dental coverage or even if you do have dental coverage, this article is a must read.

Good dental health, as well as correcting dental problems, is essential to overall health. Many Americans are finding themselves without effective dental coverage to treat and maintain their dental needs. This is due in part to businesses increasingly cutting-back or offering inferior dental coverage for prices many can't afford. So what are people to do? As a result, people have started looking for alternatives for their dental coverage needs especially online. The #1 question people are asking is, "What's the difference between Dental Insurance and Discount Dental Plans?"

There are distinct differences between the way dental insurance plans and discount dental plans work. Usually, dental insurance is used by large groups and businesses to cover their employee's dental care. Dental insurance is true insurance where monthly premiums are paid for defined coverage. Dental insurance is not readily available to individuals and families, unless provided by their employer. The pitfalls of dental insurance include annual benefit maximums, deductibles, waiting periods for procedures, and limitations and exclusions. There are also claims forms to fill out and submit. Dental insurance a lot of times doesn't even cover the cost of preventative measure until deductibles are met. You are able to use any dentist but the monthly premiums for dental insurance may be as much as $30 per month for individuals and over $100 per month for family plans.

Discount dental plans or "fee for service" plans, on the other hand, are available for everyone whether or not you are covered by a group plan. Fee for service plans are designed to provide clients dental networks at reduced rates or better yet, pay a certain amount and only that amount for services performed. Discount dental plans are affordable and are the most widely available dental programs for individuals and families. These discount plans work differently than dental insurance plans, yet provide consumers with real and substantial savings on most dental procedures. Discount dental plans are membership-based programs that usually provide coverage on an annual basis.

Consumers pay a membership fee in exchange for secured discounts on most dental services, such as dental exams, routine cleanings, fillings, extractions, root canals, dentures, crowns, and braces. These plans typically save the consumer ten to sixty percent off most standard out-of-pocket fees when visiting a participating network provider. Most discount dental plans provide a "fee schedule" with the discounted fees listed out in the membership materials to ensure consumers will receive their promised savings.

While there are several differences between traditional dental insurance plans and discount dental plans, they can also be used together in certain situations to maximize savings. Gulf Breeze Insurance Inc. offer both plans but prefer to off the fee for service plan for the basic fact our clients like to save money and most need dental coverage now with no waiting period or stipulations on the money they spend. The fact that you know exactly what you are getting and saving is enough to prefer these plans over any other. Many dentists will even tell you at the time you checkout how much you have just saved.

Raul Ramirez
Gulf Breeze Insurance, Inc.

New Roles for “Employers of Choice” | BenefitsPro

 By Sponsor: Ameritas, Michael Scheetz, Vice President - Group Marketing, Ameritas Group Division

Admit it. Some days it would be nice if someone else made your difficult decisions, or if a problem would disappear simply by ignoring it. But unfortunately, decisions and problems are not resolved by wishful thinking. This describes the situation for many Americans regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 52 percent of respondents did not know the ACA was a law. Of this group, 12 percent thought Congress eliminated it, 7 percent believed the U.S. Supreme Court got rid of it, and 23 percent did not know whether or not the law existed.
Other recent surveys report that at least 65 percent of employee respondents want to choose their health insurance company, but three out of four expect their employers to help them understand their choices. Read more...New Roles for “Employers of Choice” | BenefitsPro

Our Surgeon General needs to slap a warning label on Facebook

The data now exist for Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Boris D. Lushniak, M.D., MPH to place a warning label on the Facebook homepage, not unlike that which exists on packages of tobacco cigarettes.
Facebook has been linked, in numerous clinical trials both here and around the world, to feelings of intense envy, dissatisfaction with life, insomnia, major depression, disrupted friendships and feelings of isolation -- especially in young people.
Facebook may well be addictive, as well—just like tobacco.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/08/26/facebook-needs-warning-label/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29#ixzz2d6VO1klD