Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

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4strings
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Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by 4strings »

We just had a baby daughter ~3 months ago :D

Given that it is open enrollment season at my job, I am wondering whether and/or when it makes sense to add her to the plan. Especially interested in your thoughts on Vision insurance for a newborn. God forbid, I figure it would make sense to have given how cheap it is...

Thank you.
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dm200
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by dm200 »

4strings wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 1:16 pm We just had a baby daughter ~3 months ago :D
Given that it is open enrollment season at my job, I am wondering whether and/or when it makes sense to add her to the plan. Especially interested in your thoughts on Vision insurance for a newborn. God forbid, I figure it would make sense to have given how cheap it is...
Thank you.
I would think that almost any type of vision problems/issues with such a young child would be covered by regular health insurance. How could you ever collect on a child under 15 months old?
mhalley
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by mhalley »

It’s cheap because it is so rarely needed. How often do you see infants wearing glasses? They can’t tell you whether they can’t see the blackboard. I would not get vision insurance until they are old enough to cooperate with a vision test and need glasses. They can test for extreme vision problems using instruments, but those conditions are very rare. The pediatrician should notice any problems and refer for further testing if needed.
rkhusky
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by rkhusky »

While I have seen young children with glasses, it was obviously as a result of a medical condition, not just routine near/farsightedness. And they weren't infants. The same holds for dental conditions.
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dm200
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by dm200 »

The one question I might ask is if you do not insure the child now for coverage, are there restrictions if you cover the child several years in the future. That might make a difference.
Rupert
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Rupert »

Read your regular health insurance policy carefully. I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
aristotelian
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by aristotelian »

Pretty sure you would need teeth in order to need dental coverage...But for a couple bucks a month I would probably still take it.
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munemaker
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by munemaker »

Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:35 pm I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
DW and I are on ObamaCare. Our policy includes pediatric dental and vision, so I think you are right; mandated by ACA.

Our children are adults now and we do not need this coverage, but it comes standard. We do need dental and vision for ourselves, but it is not even available on our plan so we are using COBRA just for dental and vision. Overall we like the ObamaCare, but this is one of the things that make us scratch our heads and wonder what were they thinking? We pay for coverage for kids we do not have, and cannot buy it for ourselves.
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dm200
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by dm200 »

Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:35 pm Read your regular health insurance policy carefully. I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
I doubt that "normal" corrective lenses and refractions are covered by health insurance on children and teens.
Rupert
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Rupert »

dm200 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:57 pm
Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:35 pm Read your regular health insurance policy carefully. I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
I doubt that "normal" corrective lenses and refractions are covered by health insurance on children and teens.
This is what the ACA requires to be covered:

"The Affordable Care Act requires coverage for pediatric vision care as one of the essential health benefits. So for children under the age of 19, vision coverage is included in all new individual market plans (with effective dates of January 2014 or later), on and off-exchange. This means kids have coverage for eye exams, vision screening, and glasses or contact lenses to correct vision problems.

Vision screening for children falls under the category of preventive care, which means it’s covered at no charge until kids turn 19 (as long as you have an ACA-compliant plan). But vision screening is not the same thing as an eye exam. Vision screening can be performed by a pediatrician or family physician to identify or detect vision difficulties. The screening may not diagnose the child’s condition, but it can indicate whether the screening should be followed up with a comprehensive exam.

Although pediatric vision care beyond vision screening is covered under the ACA, everything other than vision screening can have copays, or be counted towards the deductible and/or covered with coinsurance. Some carriers do offer free eye exams and glasses for kids though — it depends on the carrier, so read the fine print on the plans you’re considering."

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/faqs/ho ... -care-act/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook
runner3081
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by runner3081 »

aristotelian wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:42 pm Pretty sure you would need teeth in order to need dental coverage...But for a couple bucks a month I would probably still take it.
I would not enroll a newborn in dental. Complete waste of money. You have the opportunity to enroll them each open enrollment. Wait until they are at least 2.
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mattyfu1
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by mattyfu1 »

runner3081 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:56 pm
aristotelian wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:42 pm Pretty sure you would need teeth in order to need dental coverage...But for a couple bucks a month I would probably still take it.
I would not enroll a newborn in dental. Complete waste of money. You have the opportunity to enroll them each open enrollment. Wait until they are at least 2.
+1
Cunobelinus
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Cunobelinus »

mattyfu1 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:58 pm
runner3081 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:56 pm
aristotelian wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:42 pm Pretty sure you would need teeth in order to need dental coverage...But for a couple bucks a month I would probably still take it.
I would not enroll a newborn in dental. Complete waste of money. You have the opportunity to enroll them each open enrollment. Wait until they are at least 2.
+1
Tongue/lip tie surgery is not very expensive -- very likely less than the first year's premiums. Once the kiddo starts getting teeth, it can make sense. Falling and knocking out teeth or damaging teeth while young and still learning to walk well can result in far more complications than just a tooth missing. Once the teeth start coming in funny because one is missing, it's expensive to correct. Alternately, if you plan on contributing to his tooth decay with sweets or sugary drinks without brushing and flossing, then you're still going to be paying a pedodontist to fill cavities -- yes, this happens to a whole lot of kids under the age of 2..

"Grandma, stop giving him POG."
"But, he likes it! Look, he's so happy!"

We will be enrolling in dental around the kid's first birthday very likely. I think it runs maybe $17 or $19/month if we enrolled presently. My wife has worked in pediatric dentistry before and has strong feelings on this topic. And $17-$19/month isn't much to "buy off" the wife on this.
Big Dog
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Big Dog »

not necessary for a newborn. Just add later during open enrollment. I believe the pros recommend a first dental visit when the first tooth erupts, or ~1st bd.
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dm200
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by dm200 »

Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:59 pm
dm200 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:57 pm
Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:35 pm Read your regular health insurance policy carefully. I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
I doubt that "normal" corrective lenses and refractions are covered by health insurance on children and teens.
This is what the ACA requires to be covered:
"The Affordable Care Act requires coverage for pediatric vision care as one of the essential health benefits. So for children under the age of 19, vision coverage is included in all new individual market plans (with effective dates of January 2014 or later), on and off-exchange. This means kids have coverage for eye exams, vision screening, and glasses or contact lenses to correct vision problems.
Vision screening for children falls under the category of preventive care, which means it’s covered at no charge until kids turn 19 (as long as you have an ACA-compliant plan). But vision screening is not the same thing as an eye exam. Vision screening can be performed by a pediatrician or family physician to identify or detect vision difficulties. The screening may not diagnose the child’s condition, but it can indicate whether the screening should be followed up with a comprehensive exam.
Although pediatric vision care beyond vision screening is covered under the ACA, everything other than vision screening can have copays, or be counted towards the deductible and/or covered with coinsurance. Some carriers do offer free eye exams and glasses for kids though — it depends on the carrier, so read the fine print on the plans you’re considering."
Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/faqs/ho ... -care-act/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook
OK - thanks
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Pajamas
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Pajamas »

The reason dental and vision coverage is usually very inexpensive is because the benefits are very limited. It's almost certainly not worth it for an edentulous infant who can't fully focus, unless it is free.

http://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(14)60048-9/pdf

https://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public ... ths-of-age
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Nate79
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Nate79 »

Here is an article on the subject of first dental visit:
https://www.deltadentalins.com/oral_hea ... ntist.html
The survey of primary caregivers revealed that, for those children who had seen a dentist – and 34% had not – the average age at the initial visit was 2.6 years. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends that a child go to the dentist by age 1 or within six months after the first tooth erupts. Primary teeth typically begin growing in around 6 months of age.
My dentist recommends between age of 1 and 2 I believe.
Topic Author
4strings
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by 4strings »

Thank you guys, this has been very helpful - I will hold off until next year as the enrollment window opens annually.
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Artful Dodger
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Artful Dodger »

Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:59 pm
dm200 wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:57 pm
Rupert wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:35 pm Read your regular health insurance policy carefully. I'm pretty sure the ACA mandates vision coverage for children under age 19. In other words, your health insurance should cover anything that comes up. As for dental, I'd probably wait and add your kid during open enrollment next year. Most folks I know first took their kids to the dentist around age 2.
I doubt that "normal" corrective lenses and refractions are covered by health insurance on children and teens.
This is what the ACA requires to be covered:

"The Affordable Care Act requires coverage for pediatric vision care as one of the essential health benefits. So for children under the age of 19, vision coverage is included in all new individual market plans (with effective dates of January 2014 or later), on and off-exchange. This means kids have coverage for eye exams, vision screening, and glasses or contact lenses to correct vision problems.

Vision screening for children falls under the category of preventive care, which means it’s covered at no charge until kids turn 19 (as long as you have an ACA-compliant plan). But vision screening is not the same thing as an eye exam. Vision screening can be performed by a pediatrician or family physician to identify or detect vision difficulties. The screening may not diagnose the child’s condition, but it can indicate whether the screening should be followed up with a comprehensive exam.

Although pediatric vision care beyond vision screening is covered under the ACA, everything other than vision screening can have copays, or be counted towards the deductible and/or covered with coinsurance. Some carriers do offer free eye exams and glasses for kids though — it depends on the carrier, so read the fine print on the plans you’re considering."

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/faqs/ho ... -care-act/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook
Just a clarification - What they are talking about here are the ACA compliant plans, colloquially "Obamacare". Pediatric dental and vision requirements apply to the individual and small group market only. Large group (in most states, this means employers with 50 or more employees, some states 100 or more) are not required to provide pediatric dental and vision benefits.

As others have said, you would not need dental or vision for most newborns. Diseases of the eye would be covered thru regular medical.
Casper
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by Casper »

Add me to the list of people who say it's not necessary yet. Wanted to add one note on vision insurance. Vision insurance would typically cover periodic eye check-ups, glasses, contacts, etc. Regular health insurance should still cover visits to an eye specialist to examine a particular vision issue, just as any visit to a specialist would be covered. We don't have vision coverage, but we just took our 3 year old to an ophthalmologist to examine her for possible vision issues. That was covered by our regular health insurance.
dk240t
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Re: Dental/Vision Insurance for Newborn

Post by dk240t »

I have a toddler. Toddler has not had/needed either. Toddler's lone trip to dentist was of course 1/4 or less the cost of adding to dental insurance.

Dental and Vision insurance cover so little, they really are not well thought of as insurance...more as prepaid plans.

Anyways, maybe when I have 2 kids with teeth, I'll add to dental (since the 2nd kid is effectively free for family insurance premiums).
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