Once upon a time there was a young woman named Goldie Lockes. A native of California, she had graduated from a local high school where she had perfect tooth brushing attendance four consecutive years.
Goldie also gained some local notoriety after getting 5,000 signatures on a petition suggesting a granola flavored mouthwash.
Anyway, Goldie left a good job in the city, where despite working for the Man every night and day she was dismayed that she still didn’t have a good dental plan for her beautiful teeth. This caused her to lose several hours of sleep, worrying about the way things might have been.
Then one day despite her friends’ admonitions about how confusing and pointless insurance was, she decided to wander into the dental plan Internet forest on her own. She did so without the help of an easy-to-understand Buyer’s Guide, a participating dentist finder or before watching any how to videos on the Dental Plan Home Shopping Network.
After 90 minutes of visiting different dental plan sites and poring over their numbing nomenclature and dreary disclaimers, she felt lost in the woods. Confused by her choices and a little frightened at the enormity of it all, she admittedly couldn’t see the forest of viable dental plan options for the fees.
Discouraged, she worried that the teeth grinding she often did while concentrating was going to require a cosmetic procedure that wouldn’t even be covered if she had a plan!
About that time she saw a friendly little website in the distance called Dental Insurance Store. Intrigued, she clicked enter and saw several good looking plans that offered excellent preventive and diagnostic procedures at little or no cost.
The first plan she clicked on was an affordable and comfortable looking PPO plan with no waiting periods on preventive and diagnostic procedures. Reading further she liked what the coinsurance paid but wasn’t crazy about the annual deductible and the listed waiting period on major procedures. Wrinkling her nose she shook her head and said to herself, “This plan is good, but too firm for me. I’m going to keep looking.”
So Goldie kept navigating effortlessly through the site, pausing occasionally to consult a plan’s frequently asked questions section and reviewing each plan’s highlights.
The second plan she considered was a discount dental plan. Perusing the summary of benefits section, she quickly saw that the plan would save her 25 percent to 40 percent on many dental procedures and that it had no waiting periods or annual maximums. But alas, she noticed it worked differently than traditional insurance. Goldie liked the assurance and peace of mind that traditional insurance offers. After considering a moment longer, she decided that this particular plan was a little too soft for her needs so she continued to surf, point and click further through the dental plan forest.
Suddenly Goldie paused, making little doodles with her computer mouse while she read aloud about different HMO options available in California. Slowly, a smile spread across her face as she read about a plan that had no waiting periods, no annual maximums and very reasonable copays. “It even covers orthodontic and cosmetic procedures, and for a premium of less than $10 a month,” she giggled to herself.
“Why, this plan is loaded for bear!” she exclaimed happily. Glancing at the clock on her computer, she thought to herself, “This plan definitely bears consideration. If I bear down and concentrate for a little while, bearing in mind all the benefits this plan brings to bear, I just know this plan will bear fruit for all my dental needs!”
At that moment Goldie was so happy she could barely resist giving herself a self-congratulatory bear hug.
So after carefully reviewing the plan details, checking the plan cost page and confirming that several dentists located nearby accepted the plan, she decided right then and there to bring to bear whatever was needed to enroll right away.
Using the Dental Insurance Store’s convenient online application process, Goldie barely noticed the short time it took to enroll and received immediate confirmation of her enrollment moments after clicking the Submit button.
The moral of the story: Buying dental coverage doesn’t have to be a bear by being needlessly complicated and confusing.
Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. For those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country, welcome. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who tolerate everything but free speech and conservative ideals, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see.
The original first of this post was published at Dental Insurance Store on April 15, 2014.
Photo source: kateandre.com
Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©
