I'm 61 years old, a San Francisco homeowner with an academic position at the University of California-Berkeley, which provides me with comprehensive health insurance. Yet, to afford the more than $50,000 in out-of-pocket expenses required for the restorative dental work I've needed in the past 20 years, I've had to rely on handouts -- from my mom.
This was how I learned all about the Great Divide between medicine and dentistry -- especially in how treatment is paid for, or mostly not paid for, by insurers. Many Americans with serious dental illness find out the same way: sticker shock.
For millions of Americans -- blessed in some measure with good genes and good luck -- dental insurance works pretty well, and they don't think much about it. But people like me learn the hard way that dental insurance isn't insurance at all -- not in the sense of providing significant protection against unexpected or unaffordable costs. My dental coverage from UC-Berkeley, where I have been on the public health and journalism faculties, tops out at $1,500 a year -- and that's considered a decent plan.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/28/health/dental-insurance-partner/index.html?
