Full Coverage Dental Insurance

Many colleges and universities offer student dental insurance plans for both students and their dependents.  If you’re looking for a basic primer on full coverage dental insurance, visit our site’s main page.  Otherwise, the best way to illustrate what you should come to expect in a student dental insurance will be to show you an actual plan with its benefits and costs.

The University of Rochester offers a dental plan through Excellius Blue Cross Blue Shield.   The cost of the UR plan is based on an annual premium.   The premium will be billed after a student enrolls in a plan.  Coverage is also provided for dependents, including spouses and children.   The plan rates will vary based on the number of people enrolled under the student dental plan.   The single plan rate is priced at $216.00 per year, while the student with children rate is $316.00 per year.   The student with spouse rate is priced at $450.00 per year, and the family rate is $600.00 per year.

Coverage is effective from September 1, and terminates on August 31, 2010.  This coincides with a typical school year, and you’ll get the benefit of a few extra months’ worth of coverage after graduation if you’re in your last year of school.   Coverage automatically terminates at the beginning of the school year unless you renew the coverage by completing a new enrollment form and paying the annual premium for the new school year.

Students enroll in the plan by returning the form to Excellius BlueCross Blue Shield in Rochester, New York.   Typically, everyone who applies for a student dental insurance plan will be accepted, but there may be some exclusions and limitations, which we’ll discuss shortly.

This particular student dental insurance plan provides a number of treatment options.   Preventive care is covered 100%.  Check the plans that you review, as some of them may have a deductible that needs to be met before the preventive benefit kicks in.  This should be of importance to you being that many people visit the dentist for cleanings just once or twice per year.

Preventive dental care includes oral examinations (new patients) and periodic examinations are allowed twice per year through this plan.  This is typical of what you’ll normally find when reviewing student dental insurance plans.

Complete or panoramic dental x-rays are allowed once in a thirty-six month period.   Bitewing x-rays are given a maximum of four x-rays in a twelve month period.   Cleanings, including scaling and polishing of the teeth, are allowed twice per year.   Topical fluoride treatment is allowed twice per year for members under age nineteen.  Palliative emergency care is covered for treatment of pain.  Fixed, unilateral or bilateral space maintainers are covered for dependents under age 19.

Basic restorative care is covered at 100% for the following services:   fillings-amalgam and resin restoration for treatment of cavities, allowed once per tooth service in a twelve-month period; extractions.

Out of network benefits are covered at fifty percent of the fee schedule allowance up to the $500 annual maximum.   The following are excluded under this Blue Cross Blue Shield student plan, and you’ll find this to be pretty typical, whether you’re looking at Delta dental student plans or any others:   cosmetic services and supplies unless required as a result of an accidental injury occurring while your plain coverage is in effect;  treatment for tmj; services or supplies that are experimental  or investigative in nature;  services or supplies paid for under any law, including expenses incurred as the result of an occupational illness that is covered under workmen’s compensation laws; any loss, or portion thereof, for which mandatory automobile no-fault benefits are recovered or recoverable; any service not listed above is excluded from the plan, including but not limited to:  laboratory, periodontic, endodontic removable prosthetics, fixed prosthetics and orthodontic procedures.

Having said that, you shouldn’t expect a dental plan for students to coverage cosmetic procedures or anything else to that effect.  This is simply for the normal dental expenses one may occur along the way, with a few bells and whistles thrown in.

You may also want to check your student health insurance plan to see if there’s an add-on, as this may give you a better price point than buying a standalone dental insurance policy.