DENTAL, VISION & HEARING

Good morning All,

I hope all is great in your world. Today, I want to go over Dental, Vision, and Hearing Insurance. As I am sure you are aware, Traditional Medicare does not cover Dental, Vision, or Hearing. This is one of the selling points used for offering a Medicare Advantage plan.

Some Medicare Advantage plans offer these benefits at no extra costs. Some of these plans will also offer an additional plan at an extra cost. Most of the DVH offered in these plans are very basic so please make sure you ask about them before making your decision. I speak with a lot of people that are unhappy the DVH is not as comprehensive as they believed it to be when they enrolled.

Please make sure you know exactly what you are getting. Know the policy inside and out. These plans do not work the same as health insurance and it is not as cut and dry as one would have you believe.

Most of your Vision policies out there are going to require a 12-month commitment. If you do not cancel at the 10-month mark, you will be responsible for another year of coverage. There are going to be allowances for frames, but if you want a more expensive frame, or add-ons to your lenses, you will pay extra. Another thing with the Vision coverage-make sure they are in the network!

There are some eye care providers that will tell you that they accept a particular insurance and schedule an appointment. After you go through the testing and what not, it is then that you find out while they accept any insurance they are not an in-network provider. This means you will pay more of the costs than you should. If not, then you will have to go through the process all over again.

Dental policies are probably one of the most popular ancillary products on the market. They will offer free cleanings or a low co-payment for preventative coverage. Preventative is your yearly basic cleanings and run of the mill X-ray. It does not mean deep tissue cleaning or the Periodontal X-rays. This is going to fall under your basic coverage! Please be aware of this before getting work done at a Dentist’s office. Once again, just because they say they accept all insurances does not mean they are in the network.

Another thing to keep in mind is the actual coverage. A lot of plans do not cover implants. They will cover dentures if it is in writing. Please be aware of your coverage and limitations. Most plans have what is called Missing Tooth exclusion. Say you have a missing tooth or teeth. If you had no other coverage prior to the new policy and were missing teeth, your Dental policy may not cover a bridge or partial. Now, they will replace a bridge or partial that has already been put in place and has broken or was damaged, but they may not cover a first time procedure. Please keep this in mind when deciding if you want to get additional coverage.

There are not a lot of hearing policies out there and the ones that are available are mostly Indemnity plans. These plans can be filed by your doctor if the doctor chooses or you can pay for the visit yourself and file the claim. The company will then reimburse you up to the agreed upon rate. Most of them will pay 60% of the cost after a waiting period.

Once again, please look over everything and make sure you know exactly what you are getting.

If you have any questions about your plan or want to explore coverage options please give me a call or shoot me an email. I would love to help you.

As always, do something nice for someone today, just because.

All the best,

Randy

Randall J. Lawson

Owner/Agent

The HgO Group

803-851.0219 office

803-521-5581 cell

randy@thehgogroup.com

thehgogroup.com

National Producer Number #9276045

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