3 ms·

I no longer recall the source, but the incidence of major (high cost) dental work at some point in a person's life is so high (80%?) as to be uninsurable. Which

by anjel 3y ago

I no longer recall the source, but the incidence of major (high cost) dental work at some point in a person's life is so high (80%?) as to be uninsurable. Which is to say even if you balance the cost across the entire population the premium is so high that it too is onorous to afford.

moi2388 3y ago
That makes no sense. If people still get that work done they apparently have the money for it, so they also definitely have that same money spread out over years, which is what insurance is.
- ben_w 3y ago
  > If people still get that work done They may just not.
- MrMan 3y ago
  [dead]
- vidarh 3y ago
  I don't agree with the person above that it's impossible, but the spread between typical dental work spend and "worst case" is low and the odds of running into the high cost is high to the point that it's hard to come up with a proper insurance plan that makes sense both for customers and insurers. This is presumably why most pure dental insurance plans, at least here in the UK, are effectively closer to (pre-)payment plans when you factor in the premium-to-cover ratio. I have worse teeth than average, and even with payouts that would be far higher than average, I've yet to see a dental insurance plan in the UK that'd be worth it to me. For someone with a lower pain threshold for what they can afford to pay out of pocket, however, they can be marginally useful. But for most people in that situation it'd likely still most of the time be better to take a (small) cashflow gamble and put the equivalent of the premiums into a savings account each month. After the first few years, odds are you'd have built up enough that your savings would cushion you more than most dental insurance solutions on the UK market at least, other than accident insurance. If I were to consider any dental insurance, I'd look for one that mostly excluded most things other than higher-payout accident insurance, as the ratio to premium vs. cover for one set of UK plans I looked at was ~1p/year per 1 pound cover and reimbursement of 100% of your costs vs. ~25p/year per 1 pound cover w/only 50% reimbursement + additional restrictions for non-accident treatments.
  - moi2388 3y ago
    Alright, well, in my country pretty much everybody has dental insurance. So I still think it’s very possible, given an entire country appears to be able to manage it
ergl 3y ago
I mean everyone dies and yet life insurance is a thing

by anjel 3y ago

moi2388 3y ago

That makes no sense. If people still get that work done they apparently have the money for it, so they also definitely have that same money spread out over years, which is what insurance is.

ben_w 3y ago
> If people still get that work done They may just not.
MrMan 3y ago
[dead]
vidarh 3y ago
I don't agree with the person above that it's impossible, but the spread between typical dental work spend and "worst case" is low and the odds of running into the high cost is high to the point that it's hard to come up with a proper insurance plan that makes sense both for customers and insurers. This is presumably why most pure dental insurance plans, at least here in the UK, are effectively closer to (pre-)payment plans when you factor in the premium-to-cover ratio. I have worse teeth than average, and even with payouts that would be far higher than average, I've yet to see a dental insurance plan in the UK that'd be worth it to me. For someone with a lower pain threshold for what they can afford to pay out of pocket, however, they can be marginally useful. But for most people in that situation it'd likely still most of the time be better to take a (small) cashflow gamble and put the equivalent of the premiums into a savings account each month. After the first few years, odds are you'd have built up enough that your savings would cushion you more than most dental insurance solutions on the UK market at least, other than accident insurance. If I were to consider any dental insurance, I'd look for one that mostly excluded most things other than higher-payout accident insurance, as the ratio to premium vs. cover for one set of UK plans I looked at was ~1p/year per 1 pound cover and reimbursement of 100% of your costs vs. ~25p/year per 1 pound cover w/only 50% reimbursement + additional restrictions for non-accident treatments.
- moi2388 3y ago
  Alright, well, in my country pretty much everybody has dental insurance. So I still think it’s very possible, given an entire country appears to be able to manage it

ergl 3y ago

I mean everyone dies and yet life insurance is a thing