E.U to US Dental Insurance - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Fulcrum525 · #1 11-26-2008, 08:40 PM

Bit of an odd question that I'm trying help to answer for a friend.

Shes a European citizen and has health insurance in Europe but needs a dentist here pretty soon because of a sudden loose tooth. Is it possible for her insurance company to pay a doctor here in the US?

Hatterasguy · #2 11-26-2008, 08:46 PM

She should call her insurance company. If her insurance company is like government than I am betting not. My friend has a hard enough time collecting from the US based ones.

Tell her cash.

Fulcrum525 · #3 11-26-2008, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

She should call her insurance company. If her insurance company is like government than I am betting not. My friend has a hard enough time collecting from the US based ones.

Tell her cash.

Did that, they said something about STH? (Whatever that stands for) And that they would only give her $200...which for dentistry is close to nothing.

Hatterasguy · #4 11-26-2008, 08:52 PM

She can call my dentist in Milford and ask him. He does walk in days, I think one Friday morning a month. Free dental care.

A lot of them also offer payment plans.

mpolli · #5 11-26-2008, 08:57 PM

I say this in complete sincerity: She will probably be better off financially to fly back to Europe for the treatment, assuming she can get a decent price on a flight and that the tooth here will cost 2K or 3K (assuming root canal and crown). If it is an implant situation then I don't even know what that costs but probably much more. So she should definitely get a quote on the work here and compare to a plane ticket and what the cost would be there if any.

Fulcrum525 · #6 11-26-2008, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpolli

I say this in complete sincerity: She will probably be better off financially to fly back to Europe for the treatment, assuming she can get a decent price on a flight and that the tooth here will cost 2K or 3K (assuming root canal and crown). If it is an implant situation then I don't even know what that costs but probably much more. So she should definitely get a quote on the work here and compare to a plane ticket and what the cost would be there if any.

Hopefully it won't come to that. Apparently its just a "Loose tooth"

mpolli · #7 11-26-2008, 09:26 PM

Let us know the quote. Here are some numbers for root canal and crown:

Seattle: 2200 to 2900
Thailand: 500
Argentina: 240
India: 150

I am curious the cost for "loose tooth".

Fulcrum525 · #8 11-26-2008, 09:51 PM

I recommended finding a walk-in clinic and just finding out whats wrong/what it would cost and hopefully the $200 will cover it.

mpolli · #9 11-26-2008, 10:54 PM

It should, in India

Actually, if all they do is pull it out or do nothing then it might. Anything else will cost much more. When I had a sore tooth, they just looked at it, took X-rays and said nothing was wrong (they were wrong). Cost for this? 300.

I hope it works out for her.

Hatterasguy · #10 11-26-2008, 11:26 PM

$200 won't get you anywhere in a dentist's office.

My uncle just paid $2,500 for a crown.

PaulC · #11 11-26-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fulcrum525

Bit of an odd question that I'm trying help to answer for a friend.

Shes a European citizen and has health insurance in Europe but needs a dentist here pretty soon because of a sudden loose tooth. Is it possible for her insurance company to pay a doctor here in the US?

I'm betting that the treatment plan will require multiple office visits, which would not be wise to divide between a U.S. dentist and her European dentist.

If bone loss has caused the loose tooth, and an implant is indicated (assuming sufficient bone remains to anchor the implant), definitely multiple office visits. Additionally, there are multiple brands of implant manufacturers and multiple types of implant hardware styles. Her European dentist may not prefer or be familiar with the implant hardware that the U.S. dentist prefers. Also just for laughs, an implant could fail prematurely, which will lead to an orgy of transoceanic finger-pointing between the dentists.

DieselAddict · #12 11-27-2008, 12:20 AM

My dad who was visiting me from Europe had a similar problem. In fact it was worse because the tooth/gum got infected. Fortunately he planned ahead and purchased international medical insurance. Still, he only had the situation stabilized here (was given antibiotics) and the actual treatment was done back home. Your friend probably needs to do the same. Being in the US without insurance is really asking for trouble.

Vronsky · #13 11-27-2008, 06:11 AM

Fact that she's from Europe is not relevant. She should check with her health insurer, and/or her travel insurance. Very likely, it will be covered I'd expect.

tankdriver · #14 11-27-2008, 10:59 AM

My grandmother is French, and she had a heart attack while here. 3days in the hospital = $25,000. She carries private insurance on top of the government health care. The private insurance paid the bill, and then the government insurance paid the private company the French rates for care, not ours (which are significantly higher).

So, if the lady in question has no private insurance, she will most likely have to pay out of pocket and then get reimbursed whatever the rate is in her country of origin, assuming they have socialized health care.

kerry · #15 11-27-2008, 11:26 AM

Did your friend purchase travel insurance for the trip to the USA? If so, check on whether it covers dental work.
I know some EU countries have reciprocal insurance arrangements with other EU countries. I doubt if they have such an agreement with the USA, but if your friend is close to Canada, I'd think it was more likely there would be a reciprocal agreement with Canada.