CONSULATE
Consulate Dental Plans, Dental PPO Plan Providers.
Question: I am covered under my moms dental insurance, I believe she has MetLife PPO..I am looking for dentist in the area and I was calling around to make sure they accepted our insurance. I called one place and they said that as long as the dentist is in the network, then all the prices for the dentist are all the same. I was like, in that case there is no need in me calling the next few people to find out who is cheaper. Is this correct that all dentist offer the same prices if they are inside the network?
Answer: Generally speaking with PPO plans, dentist that are in the plan network have agreed to cost some what. Meaning that when going to a plan provider they are normally going to be within the company’s UCR range (Usual Customary and Reasonable). Compared to when you go to an out of network provider you run a higher risk of having UCR fees.
This will encourage you to use plan providers compared to going to dentist that are not providers of the plan. With some dental PPO plans they go a step further they reduce your coverages/benefits if you choose to go to a dentist who is not a provider. You would need to check with your policy to confirm this.