Understanding Your Dental Insurance Deductible
What is an annual dental insurance deductible?
A dental insurance deductible is the dollar amount you must pay for covered dental services before your dental plan starts to pay.
Your deductible amount resets once every 12 months. Many dental plan providers follow the calendar year (e.g.; January through December). Check your dental plan to confirm the exact dates.
How exactly does an annual dental insurance deductible work?
There are two types of annual dental insurance deductibles:
- At the individual level – an individual annual deductible
- At the family level – a family annual deductible
Individual Annual Deductible
When your dentist submits a claim for a treatment, your deductible will be applied first, and from there, coinsurance will be determined.
Let’s look at an example. You receive a covered dental service that costs $250. Your plan covers this service at 80%. Your annual individual deductible is $50. If you have not yet paid your deductible for the year, the $50 will be deducted from the $250 fee leaving $200. This will then be paid from your insurance at 80%, leaving the balance plus your deductible as your total out-of-pocket costs.
| Example Deductible Calculation | |
| Service cost | $250 |
| Your deductible | $50 |
| Amount covered by plan – 80% of $200 (balance after deductible has been met) | $160 |
| Remaining balance | $40 |
| Your total out-of-pocket cost (deductible + balance after plan coverage) | $90 |
If you receive additional treatment for covered services during that calendar year, then there will be no further individual deductible taken on your personal dental care.
Family Annual Deductible
Under a family plan, you may have a family deductible and each family member also has an individual deductible that feeds into the family deductible. So, if you have a family deductible of $200 and an individual deductible of $50, and you have a family of 5, once four $50 individual deductibles have been paid, your family deductible will be satisfied.
Final Thoughts
Depending on your dental plan, some dental services, such as preventative services, are covered in full and not subject to a deductible. To encourage good oral health, many plans won’t have deductibles for preventative services like annual exams, cleanings, or fluoride treatments. This is because these services help prevent and detect diseases early on and keep more serious problems from developing.
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