Eye And Dental Insurance Tips
Read these 5 Eye And Dental Insurance Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Health Insurance tips and hundreds of other topics.
Cut The Pricey Extras
Don't splurge for the anti-reflective coating on your lenses unless you're constantly in the water or the snow, and save the $40 it might have cost you. You might also want to pass on the ultralightweight titanium frames too; plastic or metal frames are plenty strong and often cost hundreds less. If you need reading glasses, go to your local drugstore, where you can find perfectly good reading glasses for $12 or less.
Pharmaceuticals
The cost of pharmaceuticals seem to be rising faster than virtually any other health care related cost and are putting great financial pressure on many American families. This is in past due to the high costs associated with research and development (R&D), as well as, advertising and marketing of the new medications by drug manufacturing companies. Below are some simple tips you can use to save on your prescription drugs and ease the financial stress on you and your family.
Don't Pay Retail
Depending on the brand and the number of boxes you buy, discount stores like Costco, BJs and online lens discounters often offer lower prices than optical retailers or your doctor's office. For example, two boxes of Acuvue Advance contacts may cost you about $60 at Pearle Vision vs. $45 at online retailer AC Lens and just $36 at Costco.
Choose Cheaper Fillings
Many consumers opt for the resin-based fillings, which are tooth-colored, instead of the old metallic (a.k.a. amalgam) variety. Amalgam fillings are about 20% cheaper, and they last longer. Who sees the back of your mouth anyway?
Join A Discount Club
Need dental coverage, but afraid of the cost? Instead of losing your teeth, enroll in a discount dental plan, offered through major insurance companies like Aetna, Cigna and WellPoint. You'll pay about $100 a year ($150 for families) and save 20% to 30% on the cost of treatment by participating dentists. Before committing to a plan, make sure that the network has practitioners in your area and that the plan itself is legit (there have been an increased number of fraudulent discount companies most recently. You can check by seeing if the company is registered with your state insurance commissioner at www.naic.org.
Stay In The Plan
Believe it or not, most dental insurances work much like the typical health insurance plan, in which you pay a lot less if you use providers in the insurer's network than if you go outside the plan. You can save anywhere from 15% to 35% or more on the cost of most routine dental procedures by switching to a family dentist who's on your plan.
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| Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D. |
