Hard to believe my COBRA continuation coverage period for dental and vision insurance ends in January, 2024. I wasn’t planning to continue coverage for vision & dental until I realized I could keep my coverage at the same reasonable employee rates. Now that I’m searching for affordable replacement coverage in an individual policy, I see plans offered at double, triple or even quadruple the rates we’re currently paying. Ugh.
Any dentist we’ve ever had advised us to sign-up for dental insurance as an employee benefit. However, the same dentist also advised that dental insurance simply isn’t worth the cost as an individual policy. I concur. I will go one step further and state that dental insurance really functions like a prepaid dental plan. For us, dental insurance is a wash. Premiums and copays under our “low” dental plan are about the exact same money as just paying the dentist directly out of our own pocket. In fact, I think my calculations showed that we would have saved $50.00 by NOT having dental insurance the past 12 months.
On the other hand, vision insurance does make “cents” for us to continue as an individual policy. In the end, it functions as a BOGO for us as we each need an eye exam and new glasses every 12 months. Even when the rate doubles when we convert to an individual policy, it will still remain a good value.
The decision to carry certain types of insurance is totally dependent on your unique set of circumstances. Investigate all your options, run the numbers and choose the one(s) that work best for you and your family. And sometimes, it may not make “cents” to buy a policy, but it is worth it if having that coverage helps you sleep well at night.
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