My fellow Americans, how the hell are teeth not covered by medical plans? Why do I have to get a completely different coverage specifically for my teeth? And who can I yell at?
Thanks in advance
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It’s a convention, from back in the time where dentists and optical dispensers were more “tradesmen” than medical doctors. All these people have MDs now, but insurance companies like to offer lots of places to cut corners to make things cheaper. These are only two of many corners to cut, don’t even consider the role of prescription drugs.
Back in the gee olden days, there was beef between doctors and dentists. Doctors weren’t accepting of their validity and didn’t trust them. The Doctors went on to form big groups and organizations and still excluded dentists. When it came to health insurance their beef weighed in and it was decided they would be separate.
>So in the early 1800s Dentistry was just a part of MedicalCare, but all of the Physicians they kind of looked down on teeth and dentists and didn’t think like what they did was real medicine and eventually the dentist like got tired of all the attitude and so they separated from all the Physicians and formed their own Dental Society. So the mid-1800s rolls around and health insurance becomes a thing and of course they excluded the dentist and dental care because ugh teeth. But the biggest reason why dental insurance and health insurance ares eparated to this very day is because of what happened when Medicare was passed. The medical Physicians through the AMA and the dentist through the Ada they both vehemently opposed Medicare because they knew it would result in them not making as much money. But only the dentists were successful in their lobbying efforts to get excluded from Medicare and now Medicare basically serves as the foundation of Health Care coverage. All the other health insurance companies they look to Medicare to determine what services they should cover and what the reimbursement rates should be. And dentists work very hardthrough lobbying to make sure they remain separated from all of that. They don’t want to be a part of Medicare. Even dental insurance is totally different from health insurance. With health insurance you have an out-of-pocket maximum that you the patient has to pay. Well a dental insurance dental insurance has the out-of-pocket maximum that they have to pay. Totally separate. It’d bevery difficult to combine the two at this point.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDtPmQ-hC8c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDtPmQ-hC8c)
Back in the gee olden days, there was beef between doctors and dentists. Doctors weren’t accepting of their validity and didn’t trust them. The Doctors went on to form big groups and organizations and still excluded dentists. When it came to health insurance their beef weighed in and it was decided they would be separate.
Be thankful. Dental costs are one place in US healthcare where costs for basically the same services haven’t ballooned. And, the reason is that Dental Insurance is generally limited in what it will cover, and a LOT of people don’t have dental. So, dentists can’t do what doctors and hospitals did and say “Yeah, you used to pay $250 to fill a tooth. But, now the cost is $10,000. Don’t worry — insurance will pay for it.”
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There’s an insurance reason, and it is because loss patterns are completely different.
Most people, they don’t use their dental insurance much. You get a check up, a couple cleanings, and maybe a filling here and there. 99% of the time, this adds up to like a thousand dollars in a year, if that. And even if you need “major” dental work, it’s only a few thousand more. Rarely does a dental bill become something seriously high.
Regular medical insurance costs are much different, because they *quickly* become expensive. Yes the usual is just a check up, but people semi frequently break a bone and need surgery, or have another problem that can cost a lot of money. They can easily reach 6 figures.
So it makes sense to keep dental (and vision) insurance separate from your medical, because then you actually see benefits for your dental care. Adding the dental costs of maybe $600 a person per year just means so little in major medical insurance among the 6 and 7 figure bills they see, that they wouldn’t make sweeping changes to plans to accommodate dental care now being part of it.
So if they were to be combined, the only change for you would as a person would be that now you have to pay a higher price to go to the dentist every year, because it would be under your insurance deductible. Keeping it separate, at least you have the option to not pay the $10-20 a month for dental insurance.
Dentists and Doctors have traditionally been completely seperate specialities, and the underwriting is nowhere the same. A dental policy might have a $1000- $3000 cap on expenses, while there’s no cap on medical, so a person might need a million dollars in expenses. A company that knows how to do medcal underwriting will hae no experience doing dental underwriting and vice versa.
Other countries dentists aren’t covered by whatever system doctors are covered by either.
Could the answer be Capitalism? I have a crazy toothache right now and because of Capitalism I will just sit here and suffer in pain. It will cost thousands to fix my mouth. Money I don’t have to spare. So I wait.
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