Finding Cheap Dental Insurance for College Students
The concept of dental and medical or health insurance is interrelated but is not synonymous. It means that not all expenditures related to dental health are covered under health or medical expenditures. Hence, people need to take good dental insurance policies in order to get proper coverage for all dental health-related expenditures. The high cost of dental health care has promoted students to hunt for inexpensive dental insurance that has a low and affordable premium.
About Dental Insurance
As the name itself suggests, dental insurance provides coverage to the oral and dental health of the insured. Coverage means that the insured person will be provided reimbursement and compensation for expenditures that have been incurred as a result of dental health treatments. It must be noted that compensation is not provided for some expenditures such as braces, cosmetic correction, etc. Basically, if the expenditure occurs as a result of a preventive measure (cleaning and filling), or the procedure is as a result of a medical condition (such as root canal or tooth extraction), or is a first-aid procedure (after an accident), then the insurance company reimburses the entire sum of money.
There are many medical insurance policies that partially cover some of the dental care expenditures. People who have such coverage take up a supplemental dental insurance policy. Others who do not have any medical policy covering dental care, take up Full Coverage Dental Insurance Plans. Many families take up a group or family policy. Alternatively, individual plans can also be availed, which have comprehensive coverage.
Affordable Dental Insurance for College Students
Now, from the transaction point of view, there are two basic classifications of dental insurance―indemnity plans and managed-care plans. Indemnity plans are where you will have to pay the expenditure right out of your pocket, and the insurance company remits the compensation at a later date. In the second plan, the student can visit a particular chain of dental clinics where treatment is provided free of cost. That is, the cost is directly remitted to the clinic by the company. As a student, the best choice to have is managed policy, since it caters to periodic monthly expenditure of dental consultancy.
Before purchasing a policy, you will have consider the extent of the coverage. If the coverage is comprehensive enough, then you will need to just have a supplement to it with a small dental insurance policy. One of the best is the one that covers only the periodic dental checkups and all expenditures that occur in case of emergencies.
Many such policies do not cover the expenditures arising out of preexisting conditions, or they also do not cover the expenditures that arise out of cosmetic procedures. This dental insurance plan is cheaper and has a more affordable premium. The positive point is that, periodic cleaning and prevention procedures would not cost a lot. The drawback is that, complicated dental procedures are not covered.
Before taking up any dental insurance policy, check a couple of things such as the dental care clinics with whom the company has a tie-up with, and the number of free checkups and procedures that can be availed per year.