I have an almost 3 year old girl. We have received a letter from CSS regarding additional dental insurance as she will be 3 years old.
As my wife and I have had problems with insurance companies, so I would like to know if their offer is good or not. I don’t want to get into trouble again. My pain level/tolerance towards insurance companies is ZERO!
here is the related part
This is a complete offer including dental insurance
Have you looked at myFlex Outpatient insurance from CSS? It already covers a lot, including some dental cost and for my kids I only pay 4.70 CHF, plus 16.30 CHF for the dental care. 21 CHF in total
If you go with CSS Myflex, then make sure to get either the Balance or Premium versions, as those have benefits for dental work and orthodontics. The Economy version won’t do you any good in that regard.
If you go with the CSS dental insurance in combination with Myflex Balance or Premium, I recommend versions 1, 3, or 4, as those have orthodontics coverage that will extend what you get with Myflex.
Getting dental insurance and keeping it until the second set of teeth come can be worth it, if peace of mind is important to you. Any major orthodontic problems will generally show up by the time they start getting their second teeth, so after that you’ll know whether it’s necessary to keep the insurance.
In case you aren’t already aware, you can get your KVG (mandatory health insurance) and VVG (complementary health insurance) from different insurance companies. You can even get just dental insurance on its own from a different insurance company than you get health insurance from. CSS is not bad all-round, if that happens to be the cheapest KVG where you live. But if you have the nerves, take a look at these overviews I made to see what else is available:
https://www.moneyland.ch/en/dentist-orthodontics-health-insurance-switzerland
I have CSS MyFlex Outpatient Premium for my kids and I can recommend it. They pay 50% of orthodontics. I receive payment in few days with no questions asked. It has been valuable for us.
On the other hand we took Assura Denta Plus several years ago, when the kids were born. It pays up to 500 CHF/year (but then deduct 20% as your participation - so actually it is only 440 CHF/year). The unused amounts cumulate year after year. I have mixed feelings with this one…
We have paid approx 20 CHF/month (so 240 / year) to get up to 400 / year. Of our two kids, one has used the amount in full and the other one (just reached 18 yo) didn’t use at all… so at the end we lost money 
Moreover, Assura has generally been quite slow in dealing with our claims. In retrospect, we could have just saved these 20 bucks/month in some kind of emergency fund managed by ourselves.
My 2 cts
One should not insure things they can pay themselves. Insurance is not charity, the average customer will lose money.
There are only a handful of good reasons to take out insurance:
Not sure what to tell you.
I have a supplementary dental insurance. and then I send some bills as one of my kids got few caries and they told me that they do not cover caries :o, one of the most basic treatments.
The whole dental insurance is an schema.
You can take some risk. The dentist told us pretty clear for both kids
First one better get an insurance has he 99% will need brackets
Second one she does not see the need and the space,… looks pretty good
That is really what it comes down to. I think most people on this forum are the types who would likely make the most of insurance.
The potential savings of dental insurance are quite marginal. But for orthodontic work, where you’re looking at costs up to 10K or even 15K, the savings potential is bigger. Still, the majority of policyholders will pay in more than they take out (or the insurance would not be worth offering).
My general position on insurance is the same as yours. I stick to the ones that I know I will benefit from, plus the mandatory ones. This is my insurance portfolio:
Two things that made me skeptical about dental insurance are
How eagerly the sales people tell you how braces are often needed and could cost 10k plus. And, of course you need to sign up now.
Everyone has a story how much money the insurance saved them and how the premiums are only a few bucks for newborns without any teeth, yet. However, the terms then state, like, 50% coverage up to 1k a year.
And then this: Besides the overly cautious, dental insurance probably attracts those with dental issues. So, the premiums must cover for that, meaning they are inflated on average.
Hence no dental insurance in my family. I can save the premiums, could cover unexpected cost out of pocket and most dental insurances wouldn’t cover a big part, anyway.
Also depending on how bad the teeth are the IV will pay for the braces.
Out of curiosity, at what age dentist can determine this?
No idea, in our case was around 3/4 y/o.
I assume that this is more and less when they have already almost or all milk teeth out.
In our case the main difference was space between the teeth, one have none (aka problem in the future as the other teeth are bigger) the other plenty of space.
@weirded My son is approaching his 3 y.o.and I am still looking for a dental and orthodontist insurance.
How much did you have to pay over the years on orthodontist for your kids ? What was the maximum pay by year by chiild ? I am considering subscribing to the 6k chf max by year or the 10k chf max.
Here is my actual comparison (in French sorry).
Admission sans contrôle dentaire pour les enfants de moins de cinq ans.
Prise en charge de 75% de tous les frais de traitement orthodontique, y compris les frais de laboratoire et de radiographie (max. CHF 10’000 par année, selon le niveau de couverture).
Trois niveaux de couverture possibles: CHF 2’000, CHF 6’000 ou même CHF 10’000, pour vous permettre de choisir le plus adapté aux frais orthodontiques que vous prévoyez.
* Prise en charge des prestations dans les pays limitrophes de la Suisse (Allemagne, Autriche, Italie, Liechtenstein et France) au maximum du tarif qu’elles auraient coûté en Suisse.
Denta Ortho : 75% par an max 6000 chf sans franchise; Total = 27,50 chf / mois, 330 chf / an, 4950 chf / 15 ans
Denta Ortho : 75% par an max 10,000 chf sans franchise; Total = 35,50 chf / mois, 426 chf / an, 6390 chf / 15 ans
Pas de déclaration dentaire, tranche d’âge.
Délais de carence de 12 mois, avant les 5 ans.
Exemple d’ortho : commence à 13-14 ans, 2e enfant 8-9 ans.
+ Denta Sana : Détartrage, caries = 4 chf / mois, 48 chf / an, 720 chf / 15 ans
Délais de carence de 6 mois.
Participation de 75% aux coûts jusqu’à un max. de CHF 2’000.- par année civile à partir de 21 ans
Participation de 75% aux coûts jusqu’à un max. d’orthodontie CHF 10’000.- par année civile à partir de 21 ans
Participation aux traitements dentaires, à l’ajustement et à la correction de positionnement des dents
Participation de 75% aux coûts de correction de positionnement des dents sans limite de montant qu’à l’âge de 20 ans révolus
Le montant de la prime de votre assurance complémentaire est tarifé en fonction de l’âge. De façon générale, le passage à une classe d’âge supérieure s’accompagne d’une augmentation de la prime. Celui-ci a lieu le 1er janvier de l’année où vous atteignez l’âge déterminant pour le changement de classe.
Pour les CP 0–4, les classes d’âge sont les suivantes: 0–5 ans; 6–10; 11–18; 19–25; 26–30; 31–35; 36–40; 41–45; 46–50; 51–55; 56–60; 61–65; à partir de 66 ans.
0-5 : 9,40 chf ; 6 ans + 28 chf / mois, 11 ans 47 chf, 20 ans+ : 30chf
Total = 7433 chf = 113 chf + 1680 (336*5) + 5640 (564*10)
Participation aux coûts pour des interventions dentaires. Pas de questionnaire de santé pendant les 3 ans.
30.70 chf
L’assurance pour soins dentaires prend en charge les coûts qui ne sont pas couverts par l’assurance de base et protège des conséquences financières des interventions dentaires.
Traitements tels que hygiène dentaire, radiographies, obturations
Traitements orthodontiques et examens de contrôle
Prothèses dentaires telles que couronnes ou dents à pivot
Prise en charge des coûts / année
75% par an max 6000 et franchise de 500 chf = 30.70/mois, 368 chf / an, 6256 chf / 17 ans
75%. max pour 3000 chf max et sans franchise = 51.70/mois, 621 chf / an, 9936 chf / 16 ans
+ Assu oblig ambulatoire myFlex jusqu’à 15 ans= 11,50/mois, 138 chf / an, 2208 chf / 16 ans
Balance Traitements dentaires pour 50%, max. CHF 1’000 / année
Correction de la position des dents 50%, max. CHF 12’000 / année
Total = 12144 chf / 16 ans
Maybe useful, best comparison I’ve seen so far for ortho (not dental) https://www.srf.ch/article/file/urn:srf:file:18503192/Tabelle.pdf
Thank you.
Very interesting but hard to read. Any English or French version in the place you found it ?
I am surprised by the CSS comparison because cause the sale person told me you have to book an extra ambulatory my flex insurance + the Dental.
Helsana Top looks very good and wide coverage.
I was thinking to take it for me as well but the drugs coverage does not seem very wide. I have to read more in detail this list.
