Dental Insurance Doesn’t Make Sense

It’s Jimothy vs the ADA

[DGlaucomflecken]

Once upon a time the AMA and ADA vehemently opposed medicare. Dentists succeeded, medical doctors did not. To this day, dentists oppose inclusion in Medicare because it would decrease how much they are paid for services even though it would greatly expand access to a vulnerable age group. Right now, dental fees are mostly unregulated and for many, unaffordable.

[tombos]

"Teeth are luxury bones" is the most dystopian phrase I've heard all week. 10/10

[madjackgamingandfitness]

I remember when they kept talking about “death panels” if US healthcare became universal. Yet people have no problem with our insurance for decades choosing if you live or die in agony because they don’t think the procedure is needed or suddenly it’s not “covered by the plan.”

[ashleyyyy]

As a Canadian with so-called 'universal' health care that doesn't cover dental, vision, hearing, out-patient therapies, or medication, this hits hard. These things are all covered by private insurance through employers, and many don't offer it.

[sketchyskies]

“There are certain things only rich people are supposed to have, like teeth or glasses or mental health.” That last one on the list made me feel six different emotions at once and I can’t quite describe them

[thekirksiffs]

As a 67 year old woman on medicare (original plan) I am baffled that dental is not covered. Nor vision! Also, as a retired RN, I learned in nursing school that teeth and eyes are all legitimate parts of the human body.

[eddierayvanlynch]

New in town, I saw a dentist to get a chipped molar fixed. After "fixing" it, my jaw felt strange, and I couldn't bite down, so I went back. The dentist used a grinding tool on the tooth. Twice.
Fast forward six months and an unholy toothache, and my new dentist tells me the other dude mis-diagnosed an abscess, and I needed a root canal. Having recently gotten an insurance upgrade w/ dental, I shrugged and asked if it could be done that day.
New dentist blushed really hard and said, "It'll cost a grand." I shrugged again, and new dentist said, "Your insurance won't cover it, but it will pay for pulling it out."
I asked why insurance wouldn't cover a root canal.
The answer?
"Uhh, chewing is considered cosmetic by insurance companies."
(Read that again) ⬆️
That's the result of lobbyists working against patient care.

[Andrea-xsny]

As someone on Medicare who just had $20, 000 of out-of-pocket (non-cosmetic) dental work done, I thank you for caring, Dr. G, and tell Jimothy to never stop caring and fighting for our "luxury bones"!

[shrirammahabal]

Ortho doesn't need dental insurance cause the mafia already knocked his teeth out for daring to talk about teeth

[andrewroman]

As a dental student this really hits home. You’re basically not allowed to have empathy for patients based on how the system works. You can’t imagine how awful it feels to tell your emergency patient with a painful abscess that you can’t extract their tooth because they can’t afford the fee, so they just get sent home and suffer more. The ADA is criminal, they only look out for their own kind.

Edit: based on a lot of the comments made in response to this, seems like people are missing the point that I’m still a student at a school and not a private practitioner. I don’t make the prices nor the rules. I cannot just “do something for free” or else I get expelled, so yes I feel terrible when I’m not allowed to do certain things. As for when I am in practice after graduating from school, where I will be able to set prices and rules, yes I will absolutely be able to take the loss on procedures etc.

[opalfishsparklequasar]

There was a great article in the New Yorker years ago
about a woman who,
against all the odds,
as a single parent living in a trailer park
with a disabled child,
managed to get a degree,
but struggled to find employment
because of her horrible dental situation.

[arleask]

Since you mentioned it in this video, now you HAVE to do vision insurance! 🤓 As a former COA, it always boggled my mind that someone with a visual acuity of 20/40 isn’t legal to drive uncorrected, but refraction and glasses aren’t covered by medical insurance.

[daniellenoblet]

So true, I worked (very briefly) for a health insurance provider. I told people for 8 hours a day that no, that dental or vision coverage was essentially worthless-one of the reasons I quit that position. Even the job was a scam, I had earned a license to sell health insurance to people and was excited to help people on their journey, but then the group of new recruits were herded into the cubicle farm and we saw that even the job description was a lie, we weren't selling health insurance at all- but denying claims and then trying to upsell an extra (non medical) service. It was disgusting. They tried to charge me for the training and I pointed out that they'd lied about the job-then they backed down.

[jerrykinnin]

The older I get the more I believe health insurance learned all it's tricks from the Mafia.

[ed]

Im a dental student, and I have spoken to MANY dentists on the issue of insurance. One of the biggest reasons current dentists are against being included in medicare/why fees are so expensive is because private insurance reimbursements are pitiful or they dont even cover the procedure. This puts a HUGE burden on the dentist because they are now required to either charge exorbitant prices or grind procedures with little regard to patients. Dentists are graduating with INSANE levels of debt (almost 100k more than medical school), and their earning potential is lower than physicians on average.

I would love a world where dentists can provide quality care to patients and actually spend time with them, but there needs to be a massive change in culture for that to happen. Dental school is too expensive, overhead is expensive, insurance companies dont respect dentists, etc.

[pkmntrainernumbers]

Fun fact: In the Tudor period in England, barbers could cut hair and pull teeth. So even in the 1500s, without electricity and working plumbing, people knew that bad dental hygiene was dangerous.

[Redluna]

"Teeth are luxury bones."

As someone with a mom who works in trying to provide appropriate care for the homeless population this is honestly distressingly true.

[LeonardRider]

If you live in a city with a university that offers dentistry and you struggle to afford dental care, it might be worth looking into if they accept patients. I have done it for the past two cities I lived in, and I am happy I did. I've only ever had to pay for material cost, and I find the level of care superior to that of private practices, since the students still (have to) care about providing a decent service, rather than pawning their work off to assistants. Your appointments will probably take longer, since everything has to be approved by a senior (check-up and cleaning can take 2-3 hours), but for those few appointments per year that's hopefully manageable. There might also be a waiting list, but having to wait half a year for affordable care beats never getting any because it's too expensive

[BooglePoots]

I'm currently watching this with a terrible infection in one of my many damaged teeth and I hate this. This one particular tooth that snapped in half years ago gets infected and abscesses on a monthly basis lately. Which means having to take strong antibiotics _every single month, _ which is obviously bad for me too. I finally got up the courage to go to a dentist to see what I'd need to fix my teeth and left with a $40, 000 quote to just pull everything and get denture implants (even though I'm only 32).

I'm on welfare insurance because I'm disabled, so I'm pretty much just fucked, and that's _so goddamn wrong._ My health problems ruined my teeth and I hate that I just have to go through life knowing that my teeth will only ever continue to get worse. Every time this infection flares up I'm terrified that it'll spread and kill me. Even just getting this one tooth fixed would be probably $1, 000 or so, so getting it fixed isn't even a possibility for me like that.

I'm not alone in this either, millions of people in the US are suffering exactly the way I am and it's fucking inexcusable for a country with as much resources as ours does

[iono]

As a young dentist 1 year into his career— many of us can’t afford to see medicaid patients. They pay 1/4 of the cost and we have to eat the losses. I’m in 300k dollars of student debt. I applied for the NHSC scholarship where I would commit years of service in high need areas for help with my student loans but I was not accepted. They only accept less than 50 in the whole country. Why not expand that? I want to help people and I believe that everyone deserves access to care but I simply can’t afford it.