Lizzard

Hi
I am looking to see if it is possible to get decent private dental cover paticularly for children, however whole family would be even better. I have 5 kids and think some of them may need braces at some point in their lives. If dental cover doesn't cover for it how do people afford it? can medicare cover some of the costs?

hope someone can help, thanks.

CEM

You can get dental cover with your health insurance and you can opt for orthodontic cover as an 'extra', but all the ones I looked at had an upper payout limit of $2k which is not a lot when you're looking at anywhere between $3k and $9k for treatment for one child! We decided to put money to one side for orthodontic treatment instead.

I'm pretty sure medicare don't pay for any dental treatment. When we lived in Perth our kids used the school dental service, but that was only a check up service (at that time, it may have changed now) and if treatment was needed they were referred to another dentist.

I think people who can't afford it keep their wonky teeth!

hevs

No help from medicare. It costs anything up from 6k and PHI will only cover a max of 2K. You need to work out how much the extras cover is and if, like me, you work out its a waste of money begin an ING account (or similar) and put said extras money away each week, then pay for your own IF it arises

Lizzard

Hi
can you just get private dental cover? or do you have to have complete health cover? I am happy to use medicare but need dental cover. Any ideas? thanks.

koalakim

Hi

I don't think there is any! You can join a plan like Noble or Dentacare and you pay $100 odd but all that gets you is a discount at a recommended plan dentist.

After spending years in the UK with few dental problems the minute I get here I get a root canal need doing! I was over Christmas so I couldn't get hold of any plan people but in the end went with Noble. However, the nearest surgery was also part of Dentacare and said to swap with them as I'd get treated quicker as there was something like a 2 month wait! So in the end I think I got something like a 40% discount but the quote for the root canal and crown was still $3K

I did lots of research on the net and it would seem that a good number of poorer people literally pull their own teeth! There is a dental hospital in Mellie but you can only get treated there for free if you are on your last cent.

The dental service in Oz is appauling for low earners and no doubt dentistry is the field to be in here! I'm not sure if either party is considering a new plan although I did hear something mentioned on the radio by the Liberals.

I had the root canal done here but ended up having further dental work done in Singapore whilst going to and from the UK on a trip.

I think it's a case of saving up! I've also heard that if a child has started braces in the UK then some Aussie dentists make them start from scratch again! Ouch.....

Centurion

Basically it would be unprofitable for any insurer to offer that. Essentially you are after a product which saves you money on your dental costs, thing is that means the insurer will loose money by insuring you.

It's packaged within plans, such as extras packages or hospital+extras, however don't expect it to pay half of the costs of treatment should you need anything outside a check up or a clean.

Wol

Look at it this way: insurance is basically to cover you for relatively catastrophic events. Everyone pays a little, continuously, so that if you have a car crash or a hip replacement you get a payout.

Dental "insurance" is in a different category. Everyone will be claiming on a regular basis, for checkups, cleaning etc. Then on top you will have emergencies, braces etc. Given that the payouts are almost certainly on a regular basis, most people will have to pay something lose to what the work costs, plus insurers' margins. A few will win but I would agree that you are better off putting money aside in an interest account.

mark213

Nope Ive seen flyers in my local dentist for just that - dental cover only. Cant recall who it was as I already have health cover but look on google.

You can just get extras cover on its own, and no hospital but whats the point in that? You will still have to pay the extra Medicare Levy and lifetime loading etc etc etc.

Sammy T

Hi

My daughter has just had braces fitted, the orthodontic fees are over $5000 and on top of that is fees from her regular dentist for extractions etc.

We have private health insurance, they will pay a grand total of $500 per year towards orthodontic work, going up by $50 per year. We have spread the cost of the work over 3 years so will get back about $1600 in total, so it's not great but I guess it's better than nothing!

Medicare will not pay anything towards it, and there are waiting periods with private insurance, usually one year for ortho work.

If you spend over $1500 on medical/dental costs in a year, you can claim 20% tax rebate when you do your return, but it is only on the amount over $1500 so doesn't add up to a great amount, we got about $200 back this year as we have spent quite a large amount on the ortho, opticians etc.

Good luck!

Sam

mark213

Agree the insurance rebates are dire for these sort of things.

Also next year it will be $2000 for the tax rebate level, then indexed every year thereafter. Pathetic.

Tellyaddict

Try NIB, we just have extras cover, it is $80 per month for 2 adults and 2 children and I get back 65% of costs. I have just had my 2 kids at the dentist and the bill will be $1,200 for one and $320 for the other but with my 65% back it is a lot cheaper. They just swipe my NIB card at the dentist and I pay the difference. Not sure what my limit is but think it may be $2,000 per person and although I am not 100% sure I think we can use each other's $2,000 so if me and hubby don't go we can use it for the kids.

This $80 per month also covers physio, eyes and the usual extras including ambulance cover which is a MUST.

Hope this helps

scrubbedexpat020

http://dentacare.com.au/

brian.w

Do you have the link for this policy,i will need to look into all this when i move so wanna save it to my favs,i had a quick look and cant see that price or cover unless i am looking at wrong cover etc,could you have a look and supply the link.

JAJ

Insurance is for "low risk, high cost" events.

If you try and use insurance for "high risk" events, you are unlikely to get much profit on the deal. You need to plan for these kinds of events, save up, have an emergency fund etc, and it's usually simplest to save in your own account not through a company.

Tellyaddict

This is the link:-
http://www.nib.com.au/home/newtonib/...ustextras.aspx

I did a quick quote based on a family and it came in at $18.56 per week. The cover is $1,000 per person per year for general and major dental - assuming there are 2 adults and 2 children effectively you can spend $4,000 on one person so long as the no-one else goes to the dentist in that year!