I got a FB response from a friend...it seems she was shocked that I put a "smiley face" on my post to her timeline...and it kind of perplexed me. I am a "professional curmudgeon"...an old, bearded fart who grunts and snorts and generally provides the "Ed Asner" note to the proceedings...but people who really know and love me know I'm a softie who loves to laugh.
Perhaps my readiness to smile broadly is tempered by my progressively lengthening upper teeth...a cross between Milton Berle and Mr. Ed...brought about by years of not flossing, heavy smoking and a dental insurance establishment which is criminally skimping on plan payments. It would take about $6-8 thousand dollars to fix my problem...some painful and expensive gum surgery followed by a nice bridge or implants to make my upper teeth look as good as my (already done) lowers. I'll never be George Hamilton, but they would look acceptable in this LA-land of overdone cosmetic dental work.
The problem I, and about 30 million other Americans, face is that the dental insurance companies have yearly limits of between $1000-$1500 on what they will pay, and astronomical exclusions on procedures which, if they pay for at all, they pay ridiculously small amounts. It means nothing if, like me, you haven't used their services for 2-3 years...there is no "roll-over" (like cell phone plans)...the yearly limit remains the same. So you can't "bank" the money to use at a later time. Use it, or lose it.
So, if (again) like me you are broke and unable to fork over large amounts of cash to oral surgeons, cosmetic dentists and the like, you are screwed. Going for cleanings is a waste of time now, and that's about all your dental insurance covers.
I hope Obama-Care looks at this problem and comes up with a solution. All the current thinking, and all the current research, shows that dental health is crucial to the health of other bodily systems, including heart and blood vessels. I've never understood why DENTAL INSURANCE is not pooled in with HEALTH INSURANCE...is this someone else's mouth??
One body, one system, except to CIGNA, Blue Cross, Met Life and the like.
Someone please explain, because I am at a loss...
