Dental Care

I am a new employee and I have the Blue Cross Basic plan. I've reviewed the plan and it seems to cover dental as well as medical. But I have always thought I needed separate dental and vision. Others at my office carry separate dental and vision.

BCBS Basic covers some dental procedures, but not really expensive ones like crowns and bridges. Please look at our dental comparisons and read our information on dental, vision, and hearing coverage. There are obvious advantages to joining the FEDVIP dental plans, but they do cost hundreds of dollars in additional premium. If you have low dental needs such as annual checkup and cleanings and perhaps a few fillings, but expect no expensive procedures like crowns or bridges, then the coverage in BCBS Basic (and many other PSHB plans) is probably all you need. Of course, there is always risk of a new problem, so you need to weigh that as well.

In some plans you indicate that you will pay zero for routine dental exams. But the official OPM brochure indicates virtually no dental coverage ("No benefit except for services related to an accidental injury.") That's a pretty major disconnect.

There are many PSHB plans that provide a free "unofficial" dental benefit to enrollees. You will see this benefit described either in the "wellness and other special features" or "Non-PSHB benefits" section of the brochure. We take such benefits into account if they are free to enrollees and clearly enough described so that we can evaluate their costs. Even if the benefit is not part of the federal contract, it is still a legal obligation of the plan.

What dental plan is best for implants?

This is one of those situations where the best thing to do is talk to the dentist or dentists (there may be more than one for this procedure). They will know which plans pay best and, of course, whether they are in the network. You can study the dental plan brochures, but this is a procedure with multiple dental codes and you could easily make a mistake.

Is there a Blue Cross Plan that covers significant vision and dental expenses so that a higher premium would be more valuable than getting separate Vision/Dental coverage?

You should use our Guide to compare dental benefits or just look in the BCBS plan brochure to see the details for what BCBS plans cover at no extra cost. Both BCBS Basic and BCBS Standard have benefits for routine dental care such as an annual checkup.