It is the waiting period that ensures that the patient doesn’t use the full coverage of the insurance for their piled-up treatment requirements and then drops the plan once done. However, certain factors that can affect the status of waiting periods are as follows.
- Type of Plan: Every insurance company has a multitude of plans that it can offer to the customers. Amongst other benefits, the length of dental insurance plans can change with every distinct plan.
- Type of Provider: Nowadays, few insurance companies are changing their policies regarding the waiting periods. Few insurance providers are offering a little or no waiting periods. Some of the employer-based dental insurance plans do not have any waiting period at all. Few of the dental insurance providers waive of the waiting period if there has been no break in the patient’s previous insurance coverage.
- Type of service: Even though most of the treatment is not covered by dental insurance in their waiting period, they do pay for preventive services such as dental cleanings, check-ups, exams, X-rays, etc.
Here is a list of some providers along with their advantages and disadvantages, with respect to the waiting period.
- Humana Most of the plans offered by Humana are with zero waiting periods. Not only that, the services offered by Humana are eminent in the market. They have over 270000 in-network dental practitioners with over 6 diverse insurance plans to choose from. It also offers an HMO plan with no waiting period, which gives them an upper hand on its competitors. Additionally, the insurance plans of Humana offer very economical premiums and low deductibles. However, it does have higher coinsurance and certain limitations on preventive treatments than other insurance providers.
- Denali Dental Denali dental is another insurance provider that offers zero waiting periods. Furthermore, it offers 4 dental cleaning and two examinations annually in its insurance plans. Even though their insurance premium is expensive when compared to Humana or other providers, their deductibles are substantially low. This factor makes the high premium cost worth in the long run. Additionally, they also increase the annual maxims and reduce the coinsurance payments each year so that their customers stay loyal to the company.
Some disadvantages of Denali dental is that few of the plans offered by them provide only 80% coverage on the preventive treatments. Furthermore, coverage for orthodontics is not covered in the lower plans.
- United Healthcare United Healthcare is known for its insurance plans best suited for basic dental treatment coverage. Most of the insurance plans offered by United Healthcare have a zero waiting period. Their plans offer affordable monthly premiums and low coinsurance fees. However, these benefits are limited to the basic and preventive treatments only. The policies that cover major dental treatments do not offer zero waiting period either.
- Spirit Dental Unlike United Healthcare, Spirit Dental is known for plans which are best suited for major treatments such as crowns and implants. Major dental treatments are highly expensive, and thus very few insurance providers offer zero waiting periods for the same. Spirit Dental is amongst few providers that provide zero waiting period insurance plans for major treatments. However, the plans only cover 20-25% of major treatment costs in the first year. Similarly, the coverage provided for orthodontics is substantially low. Additionally, the monthly premiums Spirit Dental plans are quite expensive when compared to other providers.
- Ameritas The insurance providers that offer zero waiting period for orthodontics are scarce in the US market. Most of the waiting period for orthodontics extends up to 2 years. Ameritas is one of the very few insurance providers that not only provides zero waiting period for other treatment but also for orthodontics. Even though the plans provide low coverage in the first year, it considerably increases from the second year. The major drawback of Ameritas insurance plans is that very few low-cost plans are available for in-network dental practitioners. Additionally, there is no standardization for the per-policy limit on annual deductibles.
- Delta Dental Delta Dental is a well known name in the dental insurance industry. It offers one insurance plan that has zero waiting period with highly affordable monthly premiums. Additionally, there are no deductibles or annual maximums. However, there are some of the services like implants that are not covered in this plan.
- Met Life Under the Veterans Affairs Dental Insurance Program (VADIP), Metlife offers an excellent insurance plan with zero waiting period for veterans and their dependents. This insurance plan can only be availed by retired service members who are enrolled in the VA healthcare program. There are two insurance policies: basic (Covers preventive and basic dental treatments) and major (covers major dental treatments) with high annual maximums. However, there is a 2 year waiting period for orthodontics.
