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Alabama Dental Insurance
Affordable Dental Care
A wide selection of Alabama dental insurance plans are available, making it important to study the features of each before trying to select the most appropriate. It won't happen in a jiffy, but it doesn't have to be a struggle too. If you are organized and have your priorities in mind finding the right Alabama dental insurance plan needn't be tough at all.
The major categories of Alabama dental insurance are either individual, group based (which are often paid for by an employer), and discount plans that are fee-for-service. Any of these can be supplementary to your medical insurance. Within these categories are dozens of types of policies to choose from. It's best to try and coordinate your dental insurance with your health insurance, if possible.
There are a variety of third-party Alabama dental insurance plans from which to select, and these can be divided into three categories:
" dental service corporations, which are the administrative arm between the patient and the dental care providers
" insurance carriers, which underwrite the policies and process claims for dental services, and can either be fee-for service or managed care
" self-funded insurers, which underwrite policies using their own funding.
Some Alabama dental insurance plans allow you to choose your own dentist, others allow you to select from only a pool of dentists contracted to the plan. The main classifications of these options are preferred provider organization (PPO), allowing a group of patients to receive treatment from any of the dentists within the network at a discounted rate. The patient can elect to use a dentist outside the network but at a greater cost.
The second category, exclusive provider organization (EPO), restricts patients to dentists only within the contracted network and the fees paid to these dentists are quite low. This is the model for a Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO), also known as a capitation plan.
The Alabama dental insurance that is preferred includes the traditional type of insurance coverage, an indemnity plan which is a fee-for-service, reimburses the dentist directly, and charges monthly premiums. Discount plans that require membership are also widely used and in many cases, may be less expensive than conventional insurance.
A second option for employees is the direct reimbursement plans, where the employer pays for dental care rather than paying an insurance company. After the patient has dental treatment, he pays the bill and takes the receipt to his employer, who reimburses the costs up to a set amount.
This option seems the best in terms of flexibility as far Alabama dental insurance goes.
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