We are in BC. Anyone know how to get dental or health insurance including ortho at a reasonable price to start this year. Is this an impossible dream? We are starting a small business with only 2 or 3 people and we can't find any policies to help us straighten my daughter's crooked smile! Help!

Including Ortho? yes, its impossible. The bold part of the quote is a complete oxymoron.

Very few employer benefit packages even cover Ortho anymore I imagine primarily 'cos of the increased cost of the premiums. A mate had some cover included, and HR changed plans on him.

He rushed his 9 y.o daughter to the Ortho and he agreed she needed work which he would not normally begin till she was older, but rather accomodatingly said that since he had seen her as far as he was concerned treatment had begun...so now she is grandfathered over into the new benefit plan

Good Luck...start saving now I think

My son must be lucky. My granddaughter had braces for about a year and now has a retainer. My son's health and dental plan at work covered half the cost and then my granddaughter's Mom got a new boyfriend and his covered the other half. It wasn't like this was a long term relationship - she only met him last May and in November his health plan covered the other half of the orthodontic costs!!

Quikcard is one of the medical and dental plans that is designed for small businesses. You can get your company to pay the premiums, and then the cost of the premiums is deducted from your company's taxable income. I don't know if the plan covers ortho, but I'm guessing it does. I think it's worth an enquiry.

If you cant find affordable premiums remember you also have the option of payment plans to spread the load, or the tax friendly option is some Orthos will bill the whole extended treatment in one calendar year, making it far more likely to exceed the 3% of net income threshold that would allow you a tax deduction on the expenses.

http://www.drtax.ca/eng/kb/new/index...ds/t1/g417.htm

Thanks for thelinks guys, very useful.

Question on the same subject

Our 14 year old is due to get out two teeth and a brace fitted in March, we leave in Jan the plan is to send her back and get the biggest bit done with, would another ortho in Canada carry on with the British work,

I know this is cheeky but hey its a thought xx$ to fly her back to xxxxxx$ for a nice smile

Just as we were about to leave Houston for Melbourne, our younger son reached the stage at which he needed braces. We had a family dentist with whom we were very happy in Houston. He referred us to an orthodontist in Houston, and we also liked him. However, when he heard that we would be moving to Australia, the Houston orthodontist strongly encouraged us to wait a few weeks and start the work in Australia. He said it was far better if the same orthodontist took the impressions of the jaw, recommended a treatment plan to the patient and the parents, and carried out the whole process from beginning to end.

The Houston orthodontist told us that there were different approaches to my son's condition. He said one approach was predominant in North America, and another approach was predominant in Australia. Not surprisingly, he said he preferred the North American approach. He gave us the names of two Melbourne orthdontists whom he knew followed the "North American" approach. He also gave us a list of question to ask the Australian orthodontists before we proceeded with treatment.

When we reached Melbourne, we contacted the local orthodontists whom the Houston ortho had recommended. They told us that our son's condition was very mild, and it was the sort of thing that Australian orthodontists did not believe in treating. They said that North American dentistry was more "aggressive" and "invasive" than Australian dentistry. The Melbourne orthodontists recommended against treatment for our son. Since it would have been expensive if we had gone ahead with treatment, and since the need for it seemed marginal, we decided against it. Our son now is in his early twenties, and we feel that his mouth looks fine.

Anyway, my point is that during our one foray into the world of orthodontics, the orthodontist who would have been called upon to perform the first part of a split treatment plan basically refused to do so.

Having had extensive ortho work done when I was in my very early teens, I knew my daughter would need some help with her teeth, hers were'nt actually that bad and one of these new fangled high speed braces have been just the ticket, we are a year into it all and she is on the third appliance (not that high speed) the total cost for this is $2100 - not so far out to be unaffordable, I have just been paying a bit here and a bit there, only a little left to pay and she has to wear the appliance she has now just at night for about another year.

My eldest daughter had already started treatment for her crowded mouth in the UK and has a treatment plan which they have said they will send over. She had several extractions done of several baby and two adult teeth. Since then her teeth have moved on their own quite a bit so perhaps by the time we get booked in to see someone it won't be as expensive as we thought! Thank you for all the replies.