Many without dental insurance wait overnight for free dental care

According to a report from the Omaha World-Herald, people began lining up Thursday night and waited almost 10 hours for the doors to a two-day free dental care clinic to open in order to get access to a dentist. Organizers expect that more than 1,000 patients will be seen by the 140 volunteer dentists available before the doors close Saturday evening

Many of those in line do not have dental insurance or regular access to affordable dental care, according to the news source, noting a man who slept overnight in his car with his wife so they could get a teeth cleaning and a root canal, respectively.

Brief, free volunteer clinics such as this one have become more common over the last few years as many Americans have difficulty finding access to adequate dental care.

Some national estimates put the number of people in the U.S. without dental insurance as high as 100 million. Almost half, 44 percent, of families who earn less than $35,000 annually put off dental care for their children in the last year due to financial hardship, according to recent study.

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.