What about dental care?

It's a sad fact but, despite the recession and the continuing high rate of unemployment, insurance companies have pushed up their premium rates. This is not simply to keep pace with inflation. In reality, the economy has shown very little sign of inflationary pressure. It appears to be a response to two quite different pressures. The first is the rising cost of medical care. For better or worse, doctors and the hospitals and clinics employing them, have all decided they want more of the cake. Indeed, there's an increasing divide emerging between high- and low-cost hospitals with insurers trying to encourage their policyholders to use the lower cost facilities. The second is a desire to maintain, if not increase, the profitability of the insurance industry. As more people find insurance unaffordable and stop paying the premiums, the insurers have the same costs to divide up between a smaller number of policyholders. Insurance rates only fall if more people buy policies - hence the pressure to make payment for healthcare insurance mandatory. If all the young healthy people were forced to carry insurance, everyone would pay less.

Anyway, as things stand, families have been finding their budgets under real pressure. They have come down to basic coverage and increased the deductible as far as they dare, but it's still too much of a burden. That means taking the next step which is cutting out the dental care. Employers have also been dropping dental care out of their health plans. It's currently estimated that about 40% of the population does not carry dental care coverage.

Nationally, we have bad teeth. This is not to say the majority still manage to maintain a beautifully white set. But in some states, this is not going to last. For example, in states like Missouri, only about 60% of the population visited a dentist in the last twelve months. The national average for dental visits is about 70%. When it comes to children, many are now showing up with untreated dental decay in their adult teeth.

This problem is being compounded by the lack of dentists. Unfortunately, the profession lacks the glamor of doctors in modern hospitals. There has been a consistent decline in the number of people training and more retiring early. This leaves large parts of the country without adequate dental services. Those that do remain now often refuse non-paying patients. People on Medicaid trying to find treatment are usually forced to wait weeks for an appointment and may have to travel quite long distances.

The decision not to take care of teeth and gums is quite a big risk. The mouth is a natural breeding ground for bacteria and, if you develop infections, this can spread to the upper respiratory tract and the lungs. Without dental treatment, this is going to become a chronic problem. So, before you cut dental care out of your current health insurance plan, look very carefully at the options on dental treatment. It can often be better to retain the most basic dental coverage. Get multiple health insurance quotes with and without dental care to work out what represents the best to deal for you.