Dental care fee program offers alternative to insurance

Members of the Dental Savings Club program, launched by the Wisconsin Dental Association on July 1, pay $48 a year, or $108 per family, and can get discounts of 15 to 55 percent off the average rates provided by Fair Health, a nonprofit that analyzes the costs of high-volume patient care.

The program covers most dental services provided by participating dentists, including cleanings, fillings, x-rays, crowns, dentures and implants. Of the state’s 3,300 dentists, 400 are registered.and many more are expected to enroll.

“We know that access to health care is becoming a growing issue for many people,” said Dr. Tom Reed, a Madison dentist and WDA president-elect, “and we’ve been trying to spearhead efforts to make it easier for some people to access health care.”

The American Dental Association said it was not aware of any similar programs in place in other states.

Nationwide, About 23% of adults and 9% of children ages 19 to 64 Many seniors don’t have private or Medicaid dental insurance, according to the ADA, which doesn’t track insurance status and says some Medicare Advantage plans offer unreliable information about dental coverage.

For some people with insurance, their oral health care needs may exceed what their insurance covers and require them to pay out of pocket, and only 43% of Americans visit a dentist annually, according to the ADA, due in part to cost concerns.

Reed said Wisconsin’s program could be especially helpful for gig economy workers, such as musicians or ride-share drivers, and retirees who don’t have dental insurance. The program is aimed at those who don’t have insurance or whose needs exceed the annual benefit amount.

Dental Savings Club, operated by Menomonee Falls-based SkyGen, Connecting patients and dentists with mobile appsMembers can search for dentists, request appointments, view fees in advance and pay their bills after treatment on the app. There are no annual caps or paperwork for reimbursement, according to the WDA.

For basic dental cleanings for adults in the Madison area, visit New York-based The average cost is $84, according to Fair Health.Reid said savings club members will get at least a 15% discount.

A typical preventive visit would include a dental exam and possibly X-rays, totalling more than $200, he said. If people get such visits twice a year, as recommended, they would save at least $60 a year, more than offsetting the cost of the membership.

For more complex procedures, the savings could be even greater, Reed said, and the WDA says a typical member could save $300 a year.

“Even a 15% discount is better for some people than paying the full price they would normally pay,” Reid said.

According to the WDA, all participating dentists have the same fees, so members generally pay the same price no matter which dentist they use, although some dentists may combine some services into one bill.

The Club will also be available to employers and organizations that want to offer some dental benefits to their employees, and WDA expects some Medicare supplement plans to offer the Club.

Dental care access advocates contacted by the Wisconsin State Journal said they didn’t know enough about the new program to comment on the extent to which it would improve access to care.

A long-standing concern is Medicaid recipients often have a hard time finding a dentist Who will treat them? Dentists say that’s because state and federal programs don’t pay enough to cover the costs.

just 37.9% of Wisconsin dentists are on Medicaid. Fewer than 10 percent are enrolled in the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, compared with a national average of 43 percent, according to the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute.

State Medicaid payments to children 33.6% of what dentists receive from private insuranceThe national average is 61.4%, according to the ADA Institute. For adults, the state average is 33%, while the national average is 53.3%.

Reed said the WDA is encouraging more dentists to participate in Medicaid.