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Can I apply for better dental insurance even if my employer offers standard coverage?

Hi all, My open enrollment ends tomorrow night and I'm lost on what to do. In the next year it looks like I'm going to have costly dental work done (including oral surgery). The dental insurance I have through work now does not have as good coverage as I would like. I want to get delta dental premier, but I need to know if I can get apply for that insurance outside of work even though I can "get dental coverage thru work". The dental expenses i will have to pay out of pocket are going to range in the thousands if I stay with my current coverage., whereas delta dental Premier will pay for more of my expenses. Please help!!

Public Comments

1. Better than WHAT? Private dental insurance policies have a maximum amount they pay out - usually $1,000 or $1500. They don't include orthodontics. They have a one year wait before they cover any major work. And when there IS major work like root canals or crowns, they still only pay 50% usually. If you have two plans, the coverages don't stack, they coordinate. So if your regular dental through work has an annual limit of $1500 and pays 50%, well, the other one isn't going to pay any more. If they pay 70% with a $2,000 limit, that private coverage won't ever pay out, because the group coverage is better. Usually, you DO get better coverage through a group plan, because the only people who want to buy private coverage, want to get a lot of work done - so the private policies are written in such a way as to limit how much gets paid out, and how soon. It's probably not going to be worth it to buy BOTH. And if you have to choose, your employer's coverage is more likely to be BETTER.
2. The phrase "Better Dental Insurance" to me means the same thing as a "Less Smelly Turd." It's all crap. Dental insurance is the insurance industry's poo. You pay as much for it as it saves you. Unless you don't use it, which many people don't. Tell you what, I'll set you up with some great dental insurance. Through me. Give me $1,000 a year, and I'll pay up to the first $1,000 of your dental bills. You'll think you've made a great choice, but all you've given me is an interest free loan. Waive your dental insurance, unless you're a complete moron.
3. Do you realize that any private dental plan you may buy will have at least a 12-month exclusion period for "major work" - crowns, extractions, root canals, oral surgery, etc. - and will NOT cover orthodontia at all? Also, if you are covered by BOTH plans, only one can be "primary payer." The other will be secondary payer, so the coverages are not just added together (that's called coordination of benefits). Stay with your employer plan and start saving cash for the patient share amounts.
4. if you don't like the dental plan at work, ask your employer if they will pay you the difference in your benefits package to cancel it. like if it costs them $1000 a year for your dental plan, they might give you $500 cash if they don't have to carry you on the policy. then you can go buy your own insurance and get whatever you want on your own.
5. As others have said, a private plan will have waiting periods before coverage kicks in. If they didn't then people would buy them, get a root canal and cancel....and they'd cost $500/month.