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>> So insuring against completely predictable events is never worth it unless someone else pays for it, and even then it's less efficient than if they gave you
by mtdewcmu 10y ago
>> So insuring against completely predictable events is never worth it unless someone else pays for it, and even then it's less efficient than if they gave you the extra money directly.
It's worth it if the government guarantees it. Dental insurance might not be a good business to be in, but nevertheless people need it. It's a market failure, and it needs government intervention.
- ghaff 10y agoI don't understand why you think dental EDIT: care is a market failure. There are dentists people can go to and get care. Pricing is mostly not affected by if you have insurance or not. (Most dentists will just charge you if their rates exceed what insurance pays.) If you're arguing that "someone" ought to pay for dental care that's a different matter that doesn't really have anything to do with insurance per se. ADDED: And one actually gets into cost discussions about things like crowns and alternative treatments with dentists. It actually seems like a good model of how healthcare spending should work. Yeah, I have insurance that pays some but thats orthogonal to the cost discussion I have with my dentist.
- mtdewcmu 10y agoIt's a market failure if people are suffering due to being unable to afford proper care. It's possible that the blame lies elsewhere than the insurers themselves. Maybe dentists charge too much. But the market isn't providing what people need. The ideal solution would be single-payer, but expanding Obamacare and Medicaid to cover adequate dental services would be a big leap forward.
- AnthonyMouse 10y agoThe true problem you're identifying is poverty. Dental care isn't outrageously expensive. It doesn't have huge margins or vast inefficiency. The reason people can't afford it is because they're poor. No bureaucratic solution involving government-subsidized dental services is going to produce a better outcome than taking the same money and giving it to those people in cash.
- maxerickson 10y agoThe margins are healthy enough that many dentists work 4 days a week while earning a fantastic living.
- AnthonyMouse 10y agoSalary isn't margin, it's cost. You have to pay the market rate to convince your dentist to be a dentist instead of a psychiatrist or lawyer or bank manager. What are you proposing, price controls? Then what do you do when your dentist quits to become a real estate broker?
- maxerickson 10y agoI'm not proposing anything. Just stating that dentists make good money on nice hours. If I was proposing anything, it'd be to make it easier to become a dentist.
- AnthonyMouse 10y agoThat would certainly make more sense than any kind of public dentistry service, though it's not clear there is a lot of room for improvement there. What makes becoming a dentist hard is, basically, medical school. It's possible there is some low hanging fruit there, but a lot of that hardness is intrinsic.
- maxerickson 10y agoIn the US dentistry is a separate track. Many more people would like to become dentists than are accepted into dental schools. http://www.adea.org/publications/Pages/2009-Applicants-and-Enrollees.aspx http://www.adea.org/publications/Pages/2009-Applicants-and-E... Of course having standards is good for patient outcomes. That said, I bet lots and lots (and lots and lots) of the rejected applicants would be fine dentists.
- 10y ago
- GrinningFool 10y ago> Pricing is mostly not affected by if you have insurance or not. Based on the bill breakdown I get from my dentist, it appears negotiated rates are a thing here too. I regularly see a total price, an insurance discount, and paid-by-insurance amount. The 'discount' ranges from 10-50% depending on the service.