Some people need insurance to cover their dental treatments because they cannot afford it. During their search, they may find a policy that suit their needs. An insurance company may advertise its policy at discounted premiums. They may even be enticed by its credentials and provider’s list. However, people should research the insurance company thoroughly because its policies may not be legitimate or real.
People can spot signs of whether the insurance company and its policies are fake. For instance, every insurance company must have a license “with the Insurance or Health Department in the state where benefits are offered” as well as be “registered with the Secretary of State” (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Prospective beneficiaries should also check whether the insurance companies are supported by reputable organizations or associated with groups, such as “the National Association of Dental Plans, the Delta Dental Plans Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans,” etc. (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Insurance companies on Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) database further legitimizes them, but they are not required to be in its system (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Insurance companies should also be able to willingly give their address to prospective beneficiaries (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Plans”). Scammers could provide the address of “a local post office box office” in order to lie about their place of operations to people (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Also, real insurance companies are willing to mail people information about their policies or even “direct [people] to their web site were [sic] [they] can read specifics of the plan offered” (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”).
If dental insurance companies do not want to provide information until people pay their “‘membership fee,’” they might be fake (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Insurance companies also provide lists of dentists in their networks to people either via mail or on their websites, but fake companies could provide a fake list of dentists based on the prospective beneficiary’s zip code over the phone (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). In this case, people should check whether those dentists “are affiliated with the plan and are open to new patients” (“10 Questions to Avoid Fraudulent Dental Plans”). Furthermore, people should exercise caution, if a person offers them “unusually generous benefits at suspiciously low prices,” especially when this person is from a company “[they’ve] never heard of” (“Dental fraud scams”).
People need to check whether the person and/or advertisement offering the insurance policy to them is telling the truth about the company’s supposed credentials, discounts, list of dentists, etc. If people are stuck with a phony dental plan, they are “dangerously unprotected when [they] need costly dental treatment” (“Dental fraud scams”). In the end, they may have to make unexpected huge payments for their dental treatments and services.