Overview
Since many people don’t have dental coverage, they prolong going to the dentist and forgo regular checkups and cleanings. This only makes future visits more painful and can lead to bigger complications. That’s why the longer you wait the worse it is, so you should really get your dental plan in place so you can take out the excuse of it costing to much to go.
The Claim
Brighter.com says that you can save up to 60% on some dental procedures, and that it’s not really insurance, but more like getting a discounted price available to members only. Because of this there are no waiting periods, you can start using the savings from the day you join. There are also no limits to how many times you can get dental work done in a year, and you don’t have to pay a deductible. There’s also no paperwork to fill out, because you don’t need to file a claim and get reimbursed, the savings happen at the time of treatment.
They claim that they have already worked out the best prices available at quality dental offices, and therefore you are getting the lowest rates possible without having to haggle with your dentist. Of course it makes sense that a dentist would charge more to those with insurance, because the insurance companies are paying the claims. But if a dentist knows you are paying directly, they can offer a reduced rate because they know you are paying out of your pocket. They won’t openly do this for people that aren’t on a membership program like Brighter because it would be very professional to offer different rates to different people.
The Hype
There are a lot of different insurance programs available, so you have many options to go with to potentially save money. However, there are only a few reliable and legitimate programs that actually help you save money. Brighter is getting a good amount of hype because people are using it to save money on basic as well as more advanced procedures.
The Cost
A monthly membership at Brighter.com is $9 a month, and there’s a $20 enrollment fee to prevent people from signing up only when they need something done.
The Commitment
If you go with an annual membership, and you go past the first 30 days, you’ll have to stay on for the remainder of the year. And you have to go to the dentists that are affiliated with the Brighter program, which in most instances isn’t too hard.
Evaluation
Brighter.com let’s you see how much a procedure should cost you based on what you’re getting done, and where you’re located. This is helpful because it helps you plan for the work you need done, and so you’re not shocked when you get the bill from the dentist. It also shows you the savings you can expect to receive by being on their program.
If this doesn’t sound like a good idea to you and you’d rather have dental insurance, you can find a comparison of rates and dental care providers at DentalPlans.com. These are insurance plans that can supplement the insurance you have through your employer, or can stand alone as a plan if you currently don’t have anything else in place.
Brighter.com is a pretty clever system, and is leveraging the power of cutting out the middleman. They’ve already negotiated the best prices with dentists all across the country. Since there’s no paperwork involved for the dentist, in the form of processing claims to an insurer, they can more easily handle your procedure and pass the time savings on to you in the form of a discounted rate.
We’re giving it our Try recommendation, especially if you’ve been putting off going to the dentist because you’re worried about the price. This lets you have a ballpark figure before you go in, and lets you pay for it directly to your dentist so you don’t have to mess with all of the hassle of filing a claim.
Our Recommendation
If you have dental work you need done, you can sign up and use their service to save money on it. There is a 30 day money back guarantee, so you can sign up, pay the first month’s fee, get your procedure done and then choose whether or not the savings justifies staying with it. If not, you can cancel and get your original payment back. If it helped you save money then you can stay on with it and continue getting preventive maintenance work done.
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View Comments
I good insider know how brightre.com work. Most of the dentists that use brighter.com are there because they couldn't get customers other ways. They are bad dentists or they r at the bottom of they field. All goooood reviews and feed backs u see on brigters dentist page are chosen from 1000 feedbacks they get. They never will show u the negativ or bad reviews. Ur tooth will be with u for long time and if u want to keep ur tooth dont let anyone work on u. U will lose ur tooth to save some money.
OK folks. Here are the "facts without the hype". For full disclosure, I am, you guessed it, a full time practicing dentist. The real winner in all of this is NOT the patient. It is Brighter.com CEO Jake Winebaum who bought the Business.com domain name and then sold the business directory he built on it for $350 million. Here are some points to contemplate:
1. Dental Insurance is almost worthless these days since benefit amount is still usually $1,000 per year - the same amount it was in the 1950's.
2. Insurance Companies don't like when we charge patients without insurance less for a procedure. It's called insurance fraud, and opens both patient and dentist up to potential prosecution. Brighter.com gets around this by making the dentist sign a contract for a lower fee.
3. Lower fees sound like a good idea. But since most Dental offices operate at a 68-75% overhead per National Statistics, what is the incentive to the dentist to lower his or her fee by 20-60%? I looked into brighter.com in my area. Most of the fees they have negotiated won't cover my fixed and variable costs of keeping the doors of my practice open - the true cost of running the practice. What does that tell you about an office willing to discount fees by that amount?
4. So what gives you must be wondering? I can assure you that brighter.com patients don't receive the same allotted time for a procedure. They don't receive the same quality materials (yes we have different materials we can use that cost less). They have their dental crowns made in offshore dental labs - yes, dental crowns made in China! (Ask your dentist where he or she has their crowns made, and if they use the finest materials available). They don't receive the same level of care. Period!
5. The losers in all of this, the patient and the dentist. The winners - Jake Winebaum and the Venture Capitalists who gave him roughly $180 million to get brighter.com off the ground.
6. Save the money you'd pay brighter.com, and put it towards quality care that simply costs more than brighter.com might want you to believe.
I understand your statement that: "Insurance Companies don’t like when we charge patients without insurance less for a procedure. It’s called insurance fraud, and opens both patient and dentist up to potential prosecution. Brighter.com gets around this by making the dentist sign a contract for a lower fee."
What I don't understand is why you would use lower quality products for a service provided through Brighter.com or the like if the Brighter.com negotiated price is essentially the same kind of price you would negotiate with insurance companies to provide. I tend to agree with Georgia that this is merely leveling the playing field by putting insured people in the same position as people without dental insurance (which is what Brighter.com seeks to do for free).
Also, for what it's worth, I agree that dental insurance is almost worthless these days given the annual limits. Given that fact, I take exception with comments by some dental students that people without dental insurance are somehow lower-level clientele. To the contrary, they are sometimes people who recognize that dental insurers are not offering any service worth paying for other than pre-negotiating some prices.
I'm sorry you might not make as much money off of me if I use this service, but there really is a point where you don't care what materials are used. I am in so much pain, and am just desperate to have my tooth fixed. I don't care if the crown was made in China and I don't care if the dentist doesn't allot me as much time as someone he's getting more profit from. I can not afford to pay full price for a root canal, so this is my only option. Maybe if more dentists cared a little bit more about their patients as people in pain, and less about their profits, then it wouldn't be such a problem. You make plenty of money off your other patients and insurance companies, it won't kill you. A serious tooth infection left untreated for years, on the other hand, could kill me.
I agree with you BUT for the past 10 years I have been searching for a dentist who is willing to charge me as much as they charge the insurance companies. Instead I have gotten some pretty good jobs for top dollar and a lot of lousy ones in the mix. Interestingly since I do not have dental insurance, they feel they can charge me more because as I was told "insurance companies negotiate their services and I do not". Bottom line....dentists in this country need to straighten themselves out and realize that profiteering by people "in pain" and without insurance is a crime worth punishing.
I went to a dentist the other day and he tells me I need two root canal procedures done on my bottom right teeth and that I have tooth decay on the top front teeth. So the same day I go to another dentist for a second opinion and this other doctor tells me that I need to remove a 3 teeth on my left bottom and do 3 root canal procedures on my right bottom and top. So I know one of them is lying or both of them are, but I'm not a dentist so there's no way to find out. I'm sick and tired of going to private dentists to get my teeth fixed. I'm going to give this brighter thing a try.
This is quite an unnerving experience to hear about. I think you would know though if you needed root canal treatment on any teeth, they are generally very sensitive. With a lot of tooth decay it is also quite easy to spot yourself. I suggest perhaps a third opinion ..
i dont know where you are, but i googled "second opinion dental" and came up with a dentist that ONLY does second opinions. he doesn't do any procedures so there is no profit in him lying about anything. maybe there is one where you are, too?