What does 50 coinsurance mean for dental insurance

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The cost of dental care can be high, but dental insurance helps offset some of those expenses.

Dental insurance policies aren’t one-size-fits-all. Benefits and coverage vary from preventive-only plans to ones that help with major care like dentures and implants.

What Is Dental Insurance?

Dental insurance provides coverage to help protect you financially from the high costs of dental care. Policies are separate from your primary health insurance, though some health insurers provide dental insurance plans.

Dental insurance may be offered to you as an employment benefit, or you can buy a plan from a dental insurance company.

Featured Dental Insurance Partners

Monthly premiums start at

$24.69

No network restrictions (all providers are covered)

Monthly premiums start at

$25.00

48 states and Washington, D.C.

Monthly premiums start at

$17.99

How Does Dental Insurance Work?

Most dental insurance plans work this way:

  • You pay a monthly premium.
  • You may face waiting periods for some types of care, but preventive care (such as cleanings) often doesn’t have a waiting period.
  • You may need a primary dentist in the insurance provider’s network.
  • There may be an out-of-pocket deductible to meet before your plan covers a percentage of the out-of-pocket costs for care.
  • Most plans have an annual maximum allowance.
  • Your plan may require a copay for dentist visits.
  • Most preventive care is covered 100% by the dental plan—this includes an annual exam, cleaning and X-rays.

What Does Dental Insurance Cover?

Dental insurance policies typically cover preventive services, but how much more they cover varies by plan. Some policies cover a percentage of the cost of basic services, while others cover some of the cost of both basic and major services.

Routine and preventive services

  • Generally covered at 100% of the costs
  • Cleanings and check-ups every six months
  • Annual X-rays

Basic services

  • Coverage percentage varies, but often 80% of the costs
  • Fillings
  • Simple extractions

Major services

  • Coverage percentage varies, but often 50% of the costs
  • Root canals
  • Bridges
  • Crowns
  • Dentures
  • Implants

What Doesn’t Dental Insurance Cover?

Dental insurance generally doesn’t cover services like:

  • Cosmetic dentistry that’s not medically necessary
  • Bonding
  • Non-essential veneer placement

Dental insurance may not cover the services below. Make sure to read the fine print if you’re interested in this dental work because there might be lifetime maximum benefits or waiting periods to get the services even if they’re covered:

If your policy provides coverage for one or more of these services, it may be at a smaller percentage.

Types of Dental Insurance Plans

Dental insurance plans differ by whether you can get out-of-network care and how much plans pay for different types of care.

Dental preferred provider organizations (DPPO)

A DPPO uses a network of dental providers to provide care for an agreed-upon fee. You can also get out-of-network care at a higher cost. These policies generally have higher premiums since they come with more flexibility.

Dental health maintenance organizations (DHMO)

A DHMO offers lower-cost coverage with a network of dental providers. Some services are covered 100%, while others may require you to pay a small copayment. You usually have to stay within a DHMO’s network to get reimbursed for care.

Fee-for-service plans

Fee-for-service dental plans, also known as traditional or indemnity plans, don’t have provider networks. You can see any dentist.

These plans pay a percentage for each service and you pay the rest. A fee-for-service plan doesn’t contract with dentists, which means they don’t have discounted fees like a PPO or DHMO.

Discount or dental savings plans

Discount dental plans aren’t actually dental insurance. They instead offer discounts at participating discounts and you pay for treatment at the discounted rate determined by the plan.

What Does Dental Insurance Cost?

The average dental insurance policy with comprehensive coverage costs $47 a month, according to Forbes Advisor analysis of dental insurance premiums. A preventive care plan costs an average of $26 a month.

Factors that influence the cost of individual dental insurance include a plan’s coverage and how much it charges for out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, coinsurance and annual maximums.

Here is the average monthly cost for top-scoring plans from dental insurance companies analyzed by Forbes Advisor. Note that Humana’s Preventive Value plan focuses on preventive care and doesn’t include coverage for oral surgery, root canals and other major services.

Average dental insurance costs by plan

Employers often offer dental insurance as part of their benefits package. Those group policies are typically cheaper than getting a dental insurance policy yourself. The employer helps pay for coverage and offers more affordable dental insurance coverage by grouping coverage rather than a person getting an individual plan.

Out-of-Pocket Dental Insurance Costs

Here are different types of out-of-pocket expenses to expect with dental insurance:

  • Premiums
  • Deductibles
  • Coinsurance
  • Copayment
  • Annual maximum

Premiums

This is the regular amount you pay to keep a dental insurance policy in force.

Dental insurance deductibles

A dental insurance deductible is the amount you pay for dental care services before the dental insurance company begins to pay for services.

The exact deductible varies by dental insurance plan. For instance, our analysis of deductibles offered by dental insurance companies shows that some plans have no deductible for in-network care, while others may charge $50 for an individual each year. There are other dental insurance plans that have a lifetime deductible instead.

Examples of dental insurance deductibles

Coinsurance

Coinsurance is the percentage of costs you and your dental insurance company share for dental care after you exceed your deductible.

For instance, a dental insurance company may pay 80% of basic care and 50% of major care costs. Another company may pay 50% for basic care and not cover major care at all. In that case, you would be on your own to pay for major dental work.

Preventive care typically doesn’t cost you anything, but basic care and major care generally have coinsurance levels.

Examples of dental insurance coinsurance

Dental insurance copayment

A dental insurance copayment is a predetermined amount that you pay at the time of service. Copays are generally a low amount like $20 or $30 that you pay even after you have exceeded your deductible.

Preventive care often comes with no copay since dental insurance companies want you to take care of your teeth to reduce the chance of more expensive care later.

Dental insurance annual maximum

Dental insurance plans generally have annual maximums. These limits are the max that a dental insurance company will pay for your dental work in a year or lifetime.

Examples of dental insurance annual maximums

Should You Get Dental Insurance?

Whether dental insurance is worth it for you depends on how much you pay for dental care and whether the cost of dental insurance would offset those costs.

Here are the average costs of dental services without dental insurance, according to Humana.

Preventive services

  • Basic cleaning and polish: $75-$200
  • Panoramic dental X-rays: $100-$200

Basic services

  • Fillings: $50-$250, depending on the size of the cavity and the material used for the filling
  • Tooth extraction: $75-$800, depending on the size and location of the tooth and the difficulty of the procedure

Major services

  • Root canal: $500-$1,500, depending on the location of the tooth (front teeth are less expensive than those in the back)
  • Crowns: $500-$2,000, depending on the material used.
  • Dentures: $600-$8,000 for a full set, depending on the type and the material used.

There are additional costs for the crown, the abutment (connects the crown to implant), tooth and root extraction, office visits and pre/post-op care.

Those costs could do a number on your wallet. But whether dental insurance is worth the expense depends on how much you want to spend on a dental plan and how much coverage you want.

Methodology

To find the best dental insurance we scored 30 stand-alone dental plans. Only the top-scoring plans from each company are shown. Benefit details can vary by state, so check the plan brochure for details. Ratings are based on the following criteria:

How does coinsurance work?

The amount you pay for covered health care services before your insurance plan starts to pay. With a $2,000 deductible, for example, you pay the first $2,000 of covered services yourself. : You pay 20% of $100, or $20. The insurance company pays the rest.

How to calculate coinsurance?

The simple formula for calculating the coinsurance penalty is: amount of insurance in place / Amount of insurance that should have been in place x the loss, less any deductible is the amount actually paid.

What is deductible and coinsurance?

A deductible is the amount you pay for coverage services before your health plan kicks in. After you meet your deductible, you pay a percentage of health care expenses known as coinsurance. It's like when friends in a carpool cover a portion of the gas, and you, the driver, also pay a portion.

What coinsurance means?

Coinsurance is your share of the costs of a health care service. It's usually figured as a percentage of the amount we allow to be charged for services. You start paying coinsurance after you've paid your plan's deductible.