Honesty’s great. Transparency? Even better. But when it comes to the dental insurance model that 64 percent of Americans use, honesty and price transparency evaporate quickly. While dental insurance models like PPO’s and HMO’s are billed as a way to reduce the cost of dental care while protecting against the unknown, the fact is they’re cumbersome. For dental offices, they’re difficult to administer.
For dentists—who are only paid when there’s work to be done, and incentivized to offer aggressive, rather than minimal and preventative treatment to more and more patients—it’s a strain on everything. For patients, it’s even worse. Dental insurance models obscure actual costs, making it impossible to predict how much you’’ll be paying for treatment.
With traditional dental insurance, it’s easy to get caught off guard with:
- High co-pays
- Coverage limits that don’t cover preventative services
- “Balanced” bills that surprise you in your mailbox
- High-cost “Fees for Service”
- Recommendations for aggressive treatment you didn’t want in the first place
In other words, and to quote Forrest Gump over a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get. That’s not how dental care should operate.
The Starting Point for Price Transparency
With all the loopholes, and with the cost of dental insurance rising annually, it’s no wonder that families are finding dental care confusing, unpredictable, and hard to budget for. A better place to start would be dental care that comes with transparent costs and prices.
What you see should be exactly what you get. But unfortunately, a system that only pays dentists on commission can’t accomplish that. Not when high-costs, interfering limitations, and all-around frustration gets passed on to the patient. And not when unpredictable costs hurt an otherwise healthy, conducive dentist-patient relationship that should be focused on preventative care.
Enter Direct Dental Care
Building on price transparency, a better way is Rising.
Unlike dental insurance, which drives up cost and keeps things as hidden and messy as possible, Direct Dental Care is all about simplifying the bottom line. Transparent prices for dental service gives you autonomy, better access to your dentist, and ultimately, savings.
On top of that, direct care doesn’t require insurance. Even if you don’t have an insurance plan, an affordable monthly fee covers all your dental needs, from preventative care and routine check-ups to major dental work. Price transparency means you’re dentist won’t be trying to ‘upsell’ you on:
- Fluoride treatment
- X-rays
- Sealants
- Laser treatments
- Upgrades
If you need it for oral health, it’s included in your membership… and at a cost you’ll know about, long before you walk through the door.
Transparency Builds Trust
It’s hard to trust someone that you just met… especially when they’re telling you that you have a problem you didn’t know you had, or that your last dentist never mentioned.
In Direct Dental Care, providers work first and foremost to earn your trust. We’re not paid on how many procedures we give, so we work to educate you on the current and future health of your mouth. There’s no cop-pay. No jaw-dropping service cost you didn’t know about. If a procedure is unnecessary, we won’t push it on you… and a week later, you won’t find some surprise bill in your mailbox.
In the insurance model, you’re expendable… one of a dozen patients crowded into a network and crammed in a dentist’s busy schedule. Not the best recipe for building trust.