Health Savings Accounts and the High Cost of Dentistry

Health Insurance is getting more expensive every day. Whether you choose an HMO, PPO or Health Savings Account, are you getting your money's worth? Does your plan encourage you to remain healthy or does it provide you with benefits only upon your becoming sick?

How good is your coverage?

Even the most costly of plans may not provide adequate coverage for services that are instrumental in maintaining wellness. Take for example, one of the most important of medical services we all find necessary, dentistry. Traditional medical insurance usually does not cover dental and unfortunately dental insurance leaves you totally shortchanged. Those services which are vital to your health are either excluded or limited in scope. This forces you to dig deep into your hard earned savings. Unfortunately, if you don't have the money at the time, you may choose not to get the work done at all, which greatly effects your health and ability to work effectively.

The mouth is the gateway to the body!

Dental disease has great impact on your overall health and wellbeing. The mouth is a mirror of our health. Heart ailments, digestive problems, and structural abnormalities can all be traced back to many adverse dental conditions. Neglecting oral health will have negative implications for overall health and wellbeing.

Gum disease, which is present in almost 8 out of 10 adults, has been associated with heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, along with pre term and low birth weight babies. Advanced dental treatments that help counteract gum disease may include deep cleanings, antibiotic therapies, home care programs and even involved surgery. Treatments like these are expensive and in most cases are not covered by insurance. They are either excluded or go far above stated maximums of coverage. How much money could be saved by helping prevent treatments for heart disease or avoid those with pregnancy complications?

Traditional insurance falls far short of expectations

Take another example of severe dental stress that affects the workplace: headaches. Many people don't relate headaches to anything coming from the mouth, but nothing could be further from the truth. One of the main causes of headaches, including other types of facial pain is the TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint). Some of these headaches can be mild, but others can be more severe, as in the extremely painful migraine. Headaches are a major cause of absenteeism from work. You're at your desk, but your level of functioning is greatly diminished.

One would assume that insurance coverage exists for helping people with these problems having such severe consequences. The truth of the matter is that traditional medical insurance doesn't cover TMJ therapy but the surprising fact is that most dental plans don't cover it either. Imagine, this incredibly important joint, the TMJ, is actually the only joint in the body that has no insurance coverage at all. Amazing!

You are what you eat

Proper digestion depends on a healthy mouth. A poor oral condition equates to a lack of good nutrition which is a key factor in lowering one's immune response and becoming unhealthy. Obesity is epidemic in our society. Eating poorly and being restricted to fatty, empty calorie foods cause people to gain weight. How can one chew effectively with multiple missing teeth and dentures? Crowns, bridges and implants are options that address these difficult dental situations. Unfortunately, again, traditional dental insurance falls far short in providing adequate coverage for such health promoting solutions.

Can you imagine not being able to chew your food the way you want? What if you have multiple missing teeth and your bite is off? What if you have dentures whose biting force is only one hundredth the normal chewing force as healthy teeth? You're right, it is a big problem. Most of us feel the same way. Why one neglects their dental needs is very easy to understand. People can't afford to get their teeth fixed.

Health Savings Accounts offer a healthy solution

Considering that adverse dental conditions play such a vital role in health and that you are looking to remain healthy, doesn't it make sense to seek out insurance alternatives that can address the dental component of wellness? Wouldn't it be nice to find a way to be able to pay for and plan for dental expenditures? One such way is with the use of Health Savings Accounts and other forms of Consumer Driven Health Plan options. Health Savings Accounts, when combined with a High Deductible Catastrophic Plan, allows you access dental services you normally could not afford.

The crisis in healthcare we are facing these days seems to be getting worse. A great financial burden is being placed on us all. Health Savings Accounts are a wonderful alternative to traditional insurance by lowering premiums, providing tax advantages and giving you access to healthcare services that are vital to health, including dentistry. All this leads to a healthier, more productive you!

Article Source: http://www.contentspool.com

Dr. Vincent DiLorenzo, President of T-Horizons, LLC, a holistic dentist, specializes in Health Savings Accounts and Consumer Driven Health Care Solutions for families, individuals and employers by encouraging healthy lifestyles to lower healthcare costs at home and the workplace. Learn more => www.t-horizons.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated