Medicare Dental Coverage
A Closer Look at Medicare’s Inclusions and Exclusions
***spot1zb.shtml***Interested in Medicare dental coverage? Before you get carried away by the prospect of free dental care, make sure you know the limits and inclusions of the Medicare coverage. Medicare is particularly notorious for not providing the most meaningful benefits to its beneficiaries. A lot of people agree that the benefits offered by Medicare are limited and, most times, also not particularly useful.
So is Medicare something to be thankful about or not?
Medicare Dental Benefits Under Scrutiny
Medicare and Dental Care Procedures
- Medicare and Prerequisite Dental Procedures
- Medicare and Accidental Injury Treatment
- Medicare and Hospitalizations
1. Medicare and Dental Care Procedures
Medicare and dental care procedures do not have a smooth relationship. The truth is, Medicare simply does not pay for dental procedures done only for the purpose of caring for your teeth. This means every time you go to the dentist with the goal of getting your teeth cared for, you have to pay 100% for the services. Medicare will not provide any benefits at all.
2. Medicare and Prerequisite Dental Procedures
Thankfully, Medicare does cover dental procedures that are necessary because they are prerequisite to another medical treatment that is extremely important in maintaining the patient’s life. For example, a patient about to undergo a radiation treatment for certain diseases may need to have some teeth extracted. In such cases, the extraction will be covered by Medicare. Another example is when the patient requires a ridge reconstruction after the removal of a tumor. This is also true for dental splints that are used in the course of a treatment for a separate medical condition such as dislocated jaw.
Based on the Medicare laws, it is clear that Medicare offers very specific benefits.
3. Medicare and Accidental Injury
Medicare will also pay for dental treatments conducted to treat an injury caused by an accident. For example, if a patient suffered an injury and has to have his jaw reconstructed, all dental procedures necessary will be covered by Medicare.
4. Medicare and Hospitalization
Medicare and hospitalization have the best relationship; Medicare is open to covering hospitalization expenses if the patient’s dental condition is severe and calls for a stay at a hospital. For example, you develop an infection after an uncovered dental procedure. At the point when your dentist tells you to stay at a hospital for observation and treatment of the infection, Medicare coverage steps in. The actual treatment will not be paid for by Medicare, but the hospitalization expenses, additional payment for the dentist, and laboratory expenses are all accounted for. All services and supplies that are used in the course of treatment will also be covered.
How to Pay for Dental Services Not Covered by Medicare
If you need to get dental procedures done for the health of your teeth, don’t expect Medicare to be there for you. Thankfully, there are some options that can pick up where Medicare left off. The most favorable of all these options is a discount dental plan. This is just one of the many dental financing options around, but compared to insurance, senior citizens will probably have a better time understanding how discount dental plans work.
So how do they work exactly? Discount dental plans allow individuals to become members of the plan. They simply ask for an annual membership fee, in exchange of which the members are given discounts for almost all dental procedures you can avail of. In this respect, discount dental plans are the complete opposite of Medicare coverage. In fact, if you look closely, some of the discount dental plans even include orthodontics, cosmetic dental procedures, and other specialty care procedures.
Every time you avail of these procedures, you get automatic discounts as long as you adhere to two conditions: 1, bring your membership ID and 2, make sure you go to a dentist that belongs to the network you joined. Each discount dental plan has a list of dentists who have partnered with it; only these dentists will provide you with the discounts. If you go to any other dentist, you won’t get discounts at all. These are only two conditions, which starkly contrasts the long list of exclusions of Medicare dental coverage.
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