Dental Insurance

Your San Marcos family dentist accepts all indemnity (private) and PPO dental insurance plans. For patients with no dental insurance, we offer our very own in-house discount dental plan.
Our San Marcos dentist explains that dental insurance premiums can be very costly. For patients with dental insurance routine dental care is very affordable, if you don’t consider the monthly premiums paid to the insurance company. If you have no dental insurance, find out how our in-office discount plan can help you keep your teeth and smile beautiful all the while saving your hard-earned cash too.

In-Network vs Out-of-Network

When it comes to choosing your dentist and other healthcare providers, you are often faced with this question: are they in or out of network? What does this really mean though? Both to your healthcare and your pocketbook. Let’s find out.

In-Network Providers

What is the definition of an “in-network” provider? When a healthcare provider establishes a contractual relationship with an insurance company (e.g. Blue Cross), they agree to charge the patients covered by that insurance company a reduced fee for procedures they perform. This is usually anywhere from 20%-60% below the doctors’ normal fees for someone without this insurance. Why would a doctor agree to this arrangement? Because they hope to see a larger volume of patients covered by this insurance company. And they hope the increase in volume will offset the reduction in the fees. So if you are sitting in a doctor’s waiting room and you see a bunch of other patients there waiting along with you, you’ll know that you’ve arrived at an in-network office.

In-Network: Savings (Not Really) at the Expense of Comfort and Quality

In this scenario, the time spent with the doctor is extremely short because they got many more patients to see. Rushed visits, long wait times, and inconvenient time slots are the norm for this type of arrangement. Patients often have to return multiple times to fix the same problem. And that’s often because the healthcare professional initially didn’t have enough time to take care of it the right way. Sometimes, auxiliary dental staff performs duties that they are not fully trained in. Even though the patient saves money (at least on paper), they are getting a lower quality of healthcare. Not to mention the time lost going back and forth to the dentist.

Out-of-Network Providers

Sticking with the example above, any healthcare provider that doesn’t agree to the insurance company’s fees is considered “out-of-network”. These providers can spend the necessary time with each patient. The patient receives better care because the provider isn’t running from one room to another. endlessly. These types of practices offer little to no wait times, individualized attention, and ultimately, a higher quality of care for the patient. Patients often have their issues fixed more rapidly with less fuss and headaches. So even though they pay more to go out of network, they are getting a better, more complete, and higher quality of care.

We are in-network providers for the following dental insurances. While this means that we have agreed to their reduced fees, they are not so low for us to have to sacrifice the quality of the care we deliver.

Delta Dental – Premier
Cigna Dental
Anthem Blue Cross 300 plan
Blue Shield of California
United Healthcare

There are a number of insurance companies out there. If they allow you to see a dentist of your choice, then we can still help you utilize your insurance benefits even though we may be out of network. Your out-of-pocket cost will be higher than visiting an in-network office, but so will the comfort and quality of care you receive.

More About Dental Insurance

To learn a bit more about your dental insurance, be sure to check out the free article The 8 Most Important Questions To Ask The Dental Insurance Company.

Use It or Lose It

When it comes to dental insurance, it’s important to realize that your benefits are based on an annual (yearly) basis and that the benefits do not roll over to the next year. This means that if you have unused dental insurance benefits and the year ends, you lose the unused benefits. Why let your unused benefits go to waste? Be sure to see us to get your teeth checked and cleaned and also fix and repair what is necessary before the insurance benefits are lost.