drd

... I'm guessing this applies to the country you live in drd ... as it's different in Australia.

In Australia some portion of orthodontic treatment is covered by most 'extras insurance', although you need to check with the provider as policies vary. It forms part of the dental section, which includes the amount covered for visits to your dentist etc. Whether you have some dental cover, or none, the amount you pay can be claimed for at tax time, in the medicare section, so that you then claim a portion.

That's interesting and good to know, thanks Sunny. Is this extras insurance paid by the individual, their company, or the government? drd

Extras health insurance is something taken out by individuals, although some multi national companies do broker for their most senior staff.

Insurance in Australia and New Zealand is very different to the USA. We still have working public systems that allow for people without insurance and full cover is rare, but quite a few people are now getting an 'extras' policy, which doesn't cover surgeries or hospital services.

When we lived in Fiji, our employer paid for a health insurance to cover my hubby, son and my self. This was so that we had the choice to fly out of Fiji (a third world country) for medical treatment in New Zealand.

When we moved to Australia health insurance was not include in my hubbies salary package and due to the current system and the expensive health insurance (made more expensive because we were in our 40's), we chose not to get any. When my hubby was diagnosed with cancer (2 1/2 years ago) all his care, which included a few months in hospital, doctor visits (us to the doctor and the doctor to our house), his chemotherapy, radiology, setting up our house so he could die at home, etc etc etc ... was free of charge. For the first time I realised how truly lucky we are to have a working public health system, as for a month he shared a room with a guy who had health insurance and the care was equal.

I do agree drd although however with my employers insurance I got the basic coverage which if I had children it would cover up to $1500 but for adults that coverage covers nothing. We are now in 'open enrollment' so I am not going to change my dental coverage because I am almost done paying for them myself so oh well. I with they would have told me that before I got my policy last year. I still love my ortho because she thought that was trash so she found some additional 'discounts' off my braces for me which is awesome for me and allows me to pay for my braces over time and be done paying for them before I am honestly out of them.

In the US Flexible Spending Accounts have been the most beneficial for patients. There is talk of the government not allowing these in the future due to the national debt, but until then, FSA's are a great way to go if your employer has them available.

The only down side to employers having insurance that helps pay for ortho is that a vast percentage of the employees are indirectly paying for this coverage and won't use it. The insurance company won't offer it at an attractive rate to the employer if the insurance company isn't going to profit from it. If the employee was paid the amount that the employer pays the insurance company for the premium or put it into an FSA account for the employee, it would be significantly more beneficial for all employees. drd

thanks for the posts