Benefit River

Dental insurance is available in Colorado as either a stand-alone insurance product or as a rider to your medical insurance plan. Please read through the narrative below to find out about your dental insurance options and why purchasing a dental rider makes sense.

Your first option is to purchase a dental discount card from Aetna. The Aetna dental discount card is not an insurance plan; however, the card allows you to take advantage of discounted rates negotiated by Aetna. For example, the Aetna dental discount card provides 20% and 30% discounts per dental procedures. The monthly charge for the discount card is ~$7 per month.

The second option is to purchase a stand-alone dental plan from Multiflex Dental. The Multiflex Dental plan offers low annual deductibles (between $50 and $75 per dental procedure depending on the plan you choose), free preventative care (i.e. cleanings), and the plans do not have network requirements. This means you can visit any dentist you choose. The Multiflex Dental plans will pay for dental expenses up to a specified amount depending on the plan you choose (between a maximum of $1,000 to $5,000 annually). Please note, however, the Multiflex dental plans have waiting periods of 6 to 18 months for most dental procedures. The waiting period requirement applies to diagnostic services, minor and major services, endodontics, periodontics, and prostodontics, to name a few. Multiflex will typically cover 50% for the dental expenses listed above after the waiting period is over. Orthodontic services are not covered at any time.

The monthly premium for stand-alone dental from Multiflex is between $25 and $38 per month for an individual. Family coverage has a higher monthly premium.

The third, and possibly best option, is to purchase a low cost medical plan specifically for the dental rider. Dental riders are available from Aetna and Humana medical plans. The advantage of purchasing a dental rider is there are no waiting limits for dental services and preventative services are free of charge (i.e. cleanings). The dental rider is an insurance plan so you will be reimbursed for covered dental expenses like oral exams, x-rays, and other basic services at 100% (refer to plan descriptions for additional information).  Also, the Aetna dental deductible is lower than Multiflex and is between $25 and $75 per year. Major medical expenses are not covered; however, you will have access to in-network discounts that are negotiated by the insurance carrier. Typical discounts range between 20% and 30% of standard dental expenses. 

Please look at Aetna’s Preventative and Health with Dental or Aetna’s MC Open Access Value with Dental products if you are looking for a good dental insurance option. Monthly premiums are slightly higher than the Multiflex stand-alone dental plans. Aetna’s individual premiums range from $65 and $75 per month. However, with the additional premium you also get medical insurance coverage for unexpected injuries and illnesses. For example, a spinal fracture will cost you $200,000 without medical insurance and just a portion of that with insurance. Also, the medical insurance provides free or low cost preventative services like office visits and routine physicals. 

In my experience, it’s better to have some coverage now rather than risk having no coverage later on. In other words, if you know about a medical problem while applying for insurance coverage, the carrier can legally pre-exclude you from coverage based on your medical condition (and if you lie about the condition on the application you will be “rescinded” and dropped later). That said, the carrier can’t legally drop you from coverage if you discover the medical issue while you’re insured on their plan. In this respect, it pays to purchase a low cost medical insurance plan even if you are only using the dental services.