Delta Debuts Affordable Dental Health Insurance Card

The new affordable health insurance plan for dental care issued by Delta Dental is called Delta Dental Patient Direct. According to Delta Dental it offers big savings on dental treatment.

Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana is offering a new discount card that can help everyone save money on the cost of dental treatment and other health care services and products. The Delta Dental Patient Direct™ card provides individuals and families significant discounts on dental, vision and hearing care, and prescription drugs.

In a recent study by the University of Michigan, 46 percent of respondents said they are worried about being able to afford healthcare in the future. Twenty-four percent of respondents said they were worried about losing insurance coverage in the next year, with respondents age 50 to 64 comprising the largest group concerned about this.

The $80 annual fee for Delta Dental Patient DirectTM covers all immediate family members of a household with no waiting periods, no limits on use and no age limits. The card, which is not insurance, is available to residents in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Discounted dental services are only available in those three states; all other discounts are valid at participating providers nationwide.

“This card is an affordable option for individuals without dental insurance to save money on quality dental treatment from Delta Dental Patient Direct participating dentists,” said Dr. Thomas J. Fleszar, chief executive officer of Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. “It also helps individuals make their overall health a priority by providing significant savings for vital health services and products. We are doing our best to provide options that help people get the care they need, especially during these tough economic times.”

On average, Delta Dental Patient DirectTM cardholders will save 20 to 40 percent off the cost of dental services at Delta Dental Patient Direct participating dentists. Discounts are available for dental checkups, fillings, crowns, root canals, orthodontics, cosmetic services and many other procedures. Cardholders also can save between 15 and 30 percent on vision care, prescription drugs and hearing care.

Patients without dental insurance barter for dental care

Dentists are seeing a spike in the number of customers opting for alternative payment methods such as bartering for dental care, according to an article in the Miami Herald.

These alternative payments are not limited to direct barter, with a simple and direct exchange of one service for another, according to the Herald. Rather, there are bartering brokerages, whose members get credit with other services offered by clients of the brokering firm.
This system lets people smooth out disconnects between the price of a service such as a tooth extraction and what a barter client might be able to offer in exchange.

Scott Ebberbach, part manager of the Boynton Beach branch of national barter firm ITEX, told the news source that dentists are one of the primary medical services involved in the barter trade.

"A lot of people have insurance," Ebberbach said, "But most people don't have dental insurance, and in order to pay for any sort of dental procedure, you've got to pay out of pocket very hard."

The system does not solve all problems for the uninsured, however, as members must have something sufficiently valuable to trade, which is often difficult for the unemployed.

Ohio poor may lose state dental insurance

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, facing a $3.2 billion budget shortfall, has proposed roughly $2 billion in cuts, which would include slashing funding for health care and remove benefits for dental care for those on the state Medicaid plan, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

While the budget plan officially calls for more than 1.1 million of Ohio's poor to lose dental insurance as well as coverage for vision and other types of care, administration officials say they will continue to provide these services temporarily until the state wins a court case to free up $258 million of tobacco settlement money.

No plans were specified concerning what happens should the court case be lost.

"We implore the governor to rethink this budget framework with the House and Senate conference committee and to propose something that does not shred the safety net," said Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, chairwoman of the Campaign to Protect Ohio's Future, a coalition of health, human-services and education organizations.

The situation is similar to a number of states facing budget shortfalls which are also continuing removing dental coverage from adults on Medicaid.