3 ms·
>What, then, can Americans do to protect themselves from overtreatment and overcharging? Says the ADA’s Dr. Seldin, “We encourage patients to seek out—certainly
by PopAlongKid 3y ago
>What, then, can Americans do to protect themselves from overtreatment and overcharging? Says the ADA’s Dr. Seldin, “We encourage patients to seek out—certainly if there’s a lot of work to be done—second or third opinions so they can have comfort with the practitioner’s recommendations.”
Actually, the article already identified the prime protection mechanism -- insurance. The data in the article is nearly meaningless, because in each case it was presented as "I will get reimbursed for whatever you charge me".
Having said that, you also need to get quality insurance, not the kind that limits you to the local "Smiles" dental franchise office.
- solardev 3y agoIsn't dental insurance kinda a scam itself? They pay for a couple cleanings and give you maybe a slight discount on major work, but the payout limit is so low that you might as well pay out of pocket for all of it (and just save your premiums for operations) or use the clinic's own subscription program. When would dental insurance actually be cost effective for any major operations?
- PopAlongKid 3y agoI wouldn't say it's a scam, but yes it is in many cases just pre-paid expenses. If all you need is cleanings and periodic x-rays, it might end up a wash against the cost of premiums. I recently went through a transition from employer-provided group dental insurance, to the basic Medicare Advantage dental offered through Kaiser, and had to pay out of pocket for some major work that couldn't wait (root canal). Since then I have found an affiliation-based group plan that costs a little more but results in much lower amounts charged by the dentist for non-routine work. The quality of the dentists in the network is much higher, in my limited experience.