Debt Dumpers 2025

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

She went to a dentist that then referred her to his endodontist. That's when they did x-rays and all of that stuff and told her what she needed. The problem is when she did her last root canal many years ago, they didn't do a crown on it. So that's why the other tooth is messed up. But yes, she went to an endodontist.

Also, thanks for the information on out of network vs. in network. And I didn't realize it was any different than regular insurance. I'm almost to the point of why pay the extra $10/month if they're not going to cover anything outside of cleanings. That seems more like a racket than regular insurance companies and their fraudulent schemes.

@Nettlelondon thanks for the tip. I can tell you right now, without even asking her, that she's not going to go for anything like that.

@DanceDisney23, she won't shop around and get a second opinion. She's already had to take off a half day of work for this one. And she only gets 10 days of vacation to use. So, she doesn't want to waste more time and days off just to be told the same thing.

If she needs a root canal on the tooth, that tooth will also need a crown after the root canal is completed. Are you seeing an endodontist for the root canal? If not and just your general dentist is planning on doing it please go get a second opinion with an endodontist who’s only job all day is root canals.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

She went to a dentist that then referred her to his endodontist. That's when they did x-rays and all of that stuff and told her what she needed. The problem is when she did her last root canal many years ago, they didn't do a crown on it. So that's why the other tooth is messed up. But yes, she went to an endodontist.

Also, thanks for the information on out of network vs. in network. And I didn't realize it was any different than regular insurance. I'm almost to the point of why pay the extra $10/month if they're not going to cover anything outside of cleanings. That seems more like a racket than regular insurance companies and their fraudulent schemes.

@Nettlelondon thanks for the tip. I can tell you right now, without even asking her, that she's not going to go for anything like that.

@DanceDisney23, she won't shop around and get a second opinion. She's already had to take off a half day of work for this one. And she only gets 10 days of vacation to use. So, she doesn't want to waste more time and days off just to be told the same thing.

I notice you said you have a trip to Chicago planned? How are you funding the trip?

 

[barkley]

I'm almost to the point of why pay the extra $10/month if they're not going to cover anything outside of cleanings.

because at least it qualifies you for whatever cost of service your particular insurance company has contracted for with their providers. with insurance a $2000 procedure may have an insurance negotiated maximum price of $1000 so even if you've maxed out your benefits for the year you are still saving 50% of the cost of the procedure. that's why even if you know you've already maxed out your yearly benefit you still use their preferred providers and have them bill insurance so you get the reduced cost of service (if you have any old dental or for that matter-medical bills that detail pricing you can see how much a provider charges vs. what insurance company allows under their contract, it can be HUGELY different). for that $10 a month/$120 per year you are netting actual or potential savings on services.

 

[princesscinderella]

She went to a dentist that then referred her to his endodontist. That's when they did x-rays and all of that stuff and told her what she needed. The problem is when she did her last root canal many years ago, they didn't do a crown on it. So that's why the other tooth is messed up. But yes, she went to an endodontist.

Also, thanks for the information on out of network vs. in network. And I didn't realize it was any different than regular insurance. I'm almost to the point of why pay the extra $10/month if they're not going to cover anything outside of cleanings. That seems more like a racket than regular insurance companies and their fraudulent schemes.

@Nettlelondon thanks for the tip. I can tell you right now, without even asking her, that she's not going to go for anything like that.

@DanceDisney23, she won't shop around and get a second opinion. She's already had to take off a half day of work for this one. And she only gets 10 days of vacation to use. So, she doesn't want to waste more time and days off just to be told the same thing.

You should definitely start doing a teeth cleaning every 6 months, you are letting your insurance get away will all your money if you aren't even taking advantage of the preventative care. Having to replace all your teeth with implants or implant supported dentures because they are not being maintained by a dentist with professional cleanings is the cost of a high end SUV. There are many dentists who offer Saturday office hours for appointments because people have a hard time taking off of work. Find one who does offer saturdays and get cleanings set up and make sure they are in network with your insurance.

 

[Nettlelondon]

@Nettlelondon thanks for the tip. I can tell you right now, without even asking her, that she's not going to go for anything like that.

Fair enough - I am not sure I would either.

I have a loathing of the dentist that borders on phobia (a toothpaste commercial makes my stomach flip!). I pay for dental insurance that covers a lot of treatment but not root canals at a specialist even though I rarely go for check ups so that at least when I do need treatment it doesn't come with financial pain as well as emotional & physical.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I'm afraid to do mine, lol. I haven't been to the dentist in probably 10-12 years. Last time I went, I had 4 cavities. I can only imagine what they're going to say this time, lol. But I will start doing some research and see what's around us as far as dentists and see where I can start going.

You should definitely start doing a teeth cleaning every 6 months, you are letting your insurance get away will all your money if you aren't even taking advantage of the preventative care. Having to replace all your teeth with implants or implant supported dentures because they are not being maintained by a dentist with professional cleanings is the cost of a high end SUV. There are many dentists who offer Saturday office hours for appointments because people have a hard time taking off of work. Find one who does offer saturdays and get cleanings set up and make sure they are in network with your insurance.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Me too. I'm deathly afraid of anesthesia. It scares me being under and not being able to control things. That's why I'm afraid to go to the doctor, dentist, whatever. Plus, I freaked out last time I went and had 4 cavities filled. Poor dentist trying to do the work.

Fair enough - I am not sure I would either.

I have a loathing of the dentist that borders on phobia (a toothpaste commercial makes my stomach flip!). I pay for dental insurance that covers a lot of treatment but not root canals at a specialist even though I rarely go for check ups so that at least when I do need treatment it doesn't come with financial pain as well as emotional & physical.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

On a related note, we added $134 to our EF today. Should add more on Friday when I get paid.
DW gets paid hourly. I get paid salary. So I took the average of last year's paychecks and have been using that as our budget numbers. Anything over that has been going into the EF. My checks have gone up a little since Dec. 1 when we changed insurances, and the monthly cost dropped. So I've been putting the difference into our EF every 2 weeks. Same with DW's paychecks. If she works overtime, half goes into the EF. I know it's a very small baby step. But it's a baby step, lol.

 

[princesscinderella]

I'm afraid to do mine, lol. I haven't been to the dentist in probably 10-12 years. Last time I went, I had 4 cavities. I can only imagine what they're going to say this time, lol. But I will start doing some research and see what's around us as far as dentists and see where I can start going.

Filling a cavity is way cheaper than a root canal and crown.

 

[piglet1979]

She said she was going to try to get through it a couple of months until we can get our tax return.

She may not want to wait too long. It can get infected and then there is a lot of pain and you can't wait any longer for the root canal.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Honestly, she's been dealing with it for probably 6 months. But we should have enough in 3 months, if not before.

She may not want to wait too long. It can get infected and then there is a lot of pain and you can't wait any longer for the root canal.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

Wow, it's been busy since I checked in!

Life changes have significantly altered my goals. I’m now a widow with no debt but with very little savings. I’d rather be in debt with a plan and have my hubby back, but I’m living with intention for my kiddos.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Loss is always rough, just concentrate on your kids and hang in there.

Popping in to say I'm excited about getting going with stuff for 2025. Just finished my January budget (only doing month by month at this point). Also trying to figure out some obtainable goals for this year. The one thing I don't want to do is make a bunch of goals that I can't/won't be able to obtain. Thus I get frustrated, and I quit.

Better to take the time and figure out goals that you might actually stick with. Have you heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals? It might help when you're thinking about what to choose.

2025 is a banger so far... flat tire AND my glass shower door shattered. The door is going to be very $$ I'm sure... Not a great start to increasing my savings!! As I mentioned my H is laid off right now too sooooo not great timing. It'll be ok, and when I look back on this post at the end of the year it'll be a distant memory, but for now it's so annoying.

That's a rotten way to start the year! Does that mean it only goes up from here?

Doing my week 1 update. I've been sick and home the last 2 weeks ( I work where my kids go to school) but I'm feeling better and ready to go back to work on Monday.

Right there with you! I'm on my 2nd week of working from home in complete misery (ignoring the sick days I've blown through). Thankfully my manager has been good about letting me work remote, or I'd be in real trouble. Not the greatest of ways to start off the new year.

This year is already off to a rocky start.

Mom called me last night saying she was at urgent care because she was dizzy and kept getting black spots. Her pulse also kept dropping so they sent her by ambulance to the main hospital in the bigger city. She's in the heart hospital where they're doing multiple tests to look for heart or stroke problems. I'm trying to see if the kennel can take the dogs in after hours since they're closed today, otherwise I have to stay at her house for a couple days until I can get them in. I was planning to try and get her moved this weekend anyway, but now it's even more important. And just my luck, they're calling for freezing rain all weekend. I couldn't get anyone to cover me at work, so I'll be going down around 1 to get dogs out and clean up the messes, then down to see her and then stop back at house to load up my car and bring stuff to apartment.
I do not want her going back to the house where she's alone and an hour away. Then apartment has staff 24/7, a medical alert device on her, and I'm 5 mins away.

So much for less stress this year.

Deep breaths, very deep breaths! I hope they get it all figured out soon.

Got blindsided today a bit. Wife had been having trouble with her tooth. Went to the dentist today, and she needs a root canal on one and a crown on the other. The total job came out to about $2,500 total. And insurance is paying 30% of that, so we have to come up with $1,700 out of pocket. They said if we have good credit (they do a credit check), we can pay it out in installments. If we don't, then we have to pay it all up front. So we're going to have to start thinking of that now. So much for a budget. I guess this is why most folks don't budget. Cause you can't budget for this type of crap.

Oh no! Preventative care certainly helps avoid this sort of thing, but I get why that might happen. I can't give you advice for dental things, because it works differently here. But like there, without private insurance there's no coverage here, and even then the "big things" aren't covered. I've been there, and it sucks. All the more reason to revise the budget for your current situation, and keep going. I know it's incredibly disappointing to make a plan and have it blown up, but you can pivot and make a new plan. You've got this!

 

[Rpickerd]

I'm jumping in. I watch a lot, but really don't post. I lost my husband suddenly 2 years ago. So now

 

[Rpickerd]

now it's just me and my son who is autistic. 3 weeks after he died I had to replace the furnace and central air . Then 2 major water lines and the pump for the well. For 2025 I need to be more on top of things. Keep a log for everything.

Pay down on my vehicle. Save for a Disney trip. We were planning a trip for this year for our 30th anniversary. I don't have a mortgage. Have the house and land.
No credit card debt right now. I went and prepaid funeral cost for my son and myself. I need to start decluttering
N

 

[Bellex917]

I am in the dental field just because they advertise everywhere doesn’t make them a good dentist at all, in fact sometimes it can be the opposite because they don’t have a lot of repeat business and customer referrals to support their practice. I highly recommend looking at google reviews, even good dentists will have a few bad ones but if they are overall 5 stars you should be in good hands. One of the biggest dental advertisers down by us got busted for care credit fraud signing up patients for huge treatment plans and charging it right away without doing the work and leaving the patients on the hook for crazy interest rates and paying for treatment they never started.

Like others have stated above your insurance may only cover a maximum amount of $1000 a year out of their pocket the rest will have to come from your pocket. Dental insurance works nothing like medical insurance, they have an annual maximum benefit which ranges from $1000-$3000 depending on the plan to help cover a portion of your dental expenses. Very rarely does a policy cover 100% of everything, it’s usually only preventative care like cleanings and exams that are covered 100% but that money they pay is also deducted from your annual maximum. I would definitely check to see if the dentist’s are in network with your plan as it can save you hundreds because in network doctors have a set fee schedule they are allowed to charge patients with that certain insurance company. If you have a PPO plan you can get work done from any dentist but the reimbursement from the annual maximum is usually less and the fees are more as they aren’t required to give you the “in network” fees.
Example:
In network dentist A: crown is usually $1000 but you can only be charged $725 since they are in network and your benefit for coverage is 50% from the $1000 pot of money the insurance is willing to pay. So your out of pocket is most likely $412.50 due to a normal $50 deductible that needs to be paid before they will dip into the $1000 insurance fund.

Out of Network dentist B: you are paying their normal fee of $1000 and you said that your insurance will only cover 30% (coverage percentages for out of network doctor’s can be reduced depending on the plan and insurance company) so you would be looking at paying $750 because you are still having to take the $50 deductible into account. That’s more than in network dentist A was even allowed to charge you for the procedure.

I also want to add that some dentists (in network and out of them too) will nickel and dime you to death over coding. For example we never charge a patient extra for the application of anesthetic to numb the area even though there’s a dental code to bill for it. If you see a bunch of codes then you know they are trying to milk you for everything.

We recently saw a treatment plan from a patient that was getting charged more to have “second stage implant surgery” than to have the actual implant. This second stage is just literally cutting away the tissue that grows over the implant if a healing cap comes off or one was purposefully left off. That fee is never charged in our office as it’s part of doing business as a dental specialist to uncover it when it’s ready for the crown to be put on by their general dentist. Too much nickel and diming and dentistry becomes unaffordable and it’s not ethical to treat others that way. Private equity doesn’t feel the same way and they have been gobbling up dental offices and milking them for every dime they can get. Best of luck to your wife I hope this helps.

Wow, this was so informative. I'll be honest I've never fully understood my dental insurance plan. This was incredibly useful. Thanks!!

 

[barkley]

I'm jumping in. I watch a lot, but really don't post. I lost my husband suddenly 2 years ago. So now

Pay down on my vehicle. Save for a Disney trip. We were planning a trip for this year for our 30th anniversary. I don't have a mortgage. Have the house and land.
No credit card debt right now. I went and prepaid funeral cost for my son and myself. I need to start decluttering
N

I'm so sorry for your loss. i'm not sure if your son is a minor or not/how his asd impacts him but if he's aged out of survivor's benefits for social security you might want to apply under the DAC program for him (disabled adult child). it uses the deceased or disabled parent's social security quarters as the basis for determining the monthly payment and is generally higher than SSI. I also have an autistic son whose disability is such he cannot be employed who benefits from this program.

 

[disney-inspired]

Just filed my taxes and will be getting more than I predicted for my CA state tax refund.
That money is going toward my Disneyland trip in February.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm jumping in. I watch a lot, but really don't post. I lost my husband suddenly 2 years ago. So now

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[barkley]

Just filed my taxes and will be getting more than I predicted for my CA state tax refund.
That money is going toward my Disneyland trip in February.

i was so happy when we moved out of California and filed that final state return. one tax return per year to fill out is just fine by me.