Expensive Lesson Learned

Have good insurance and know your policy and options. And plan ahead instead of waiting until problems pop up.

About a week ago I had my four wisdom teeth ripped out of my head. I was so nervous, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be physically. On the other hand, my wallet is still recovering. It cost a few dollars short of $2K. That's more than my engagement and wedding ring combined, the same as my first car, and a months worth of paychecks. It turns out I have an $800 maximum dental benefits. That means my insurance will only pay out a maximum of $800 a year in dental claims. Even with the $800 max my insurance only covered $200 of the wisdom tooth extraction. Normally I wold be really upset about that, but I also got cavities filled and had xrays, a cleaning, and exam. So I will hopefully be getting all of the $800 in the end from the insurance company. Unfortunately, that still leaves my with $2.2K worth of work to pay for out of pocket.

Had I planned this out better I would have switched to my husbands insurance. He has a $2,000 maximum dental benefits. Then I would only be looking at $1K out of pocket expenses or possibly less if medical had covered some.

So during open enrollment I will be dropping health and dental insurance though my employer and having my husband add me to his plan though his employer.