Delta Dental Insurance 12/2014

I have dental insurance with Delta Dental, with which I cover my 18 year-old and my wife.

My 18 year-old got his teeth cleaned at the dentist recently.

No fillings, nothing weird.  Just a cleaning.

The bill was $156.

After the insurance covered their part, we were stuck with the remainder of the bill.

$107.

Delta Dental Insurance paid $49. 
Less than a third of the total bill.

I have been with Delta Dental for 5 years now.

I pay them $96.52 every month for dental coverage.  For them to cover my dental needs when I need it.  When my family needs it.  So that I'm not put into financial straits when it's time to care for the health needs of myself and my family.

For 5 years I have not used the service that I have been paying for.
For 5 years, no one in my family has used their service.

Over this period of time, they have received $5,791.20 from me alone.
I have never cost them any money, nor has any member of my family.
When I need to use this service that I've been paying for, they do not pay for the bill.
They do not pay for half of the bill.
They pay less than 1% of the total amount of money I've paid them over my time with them.

My family will need to make some changes to afford this charge.
We will need to make some serious changes in order to afford wisdom teeth removal from my 18-year-old.  It's possible that we won't be able to afford to care for his health even with health insurance.


Of course, the alternative is even worse.

My work pays me a stipend, an extra amount of money each month, to pay for health insurance.
That stipend is mine only if I elect to receive health insurance from the companies they provide.
If I don't select health insurance through my job, then I don't receive that stipend.
Any money from the stipend that is left over after I pay for my health insurance is given to my in my paycheck.
In 2015, my stipend will not cover all of my health insurance costs, and I will, for the first time in five years, be paying for my health insurance coverage with money beyond that which I am provided in my stipend.
I will be taking money I use to care for my family and spending it to provide services which I cannot afford to use.
I wouldn't be able to make ends meet if I had to pay $96.52 of my own money every month for dental insurance.

And the national narrative is that I don't work hard enough.
If you work hard enough, you can get anything you want.
You can become rich.
You can take care of yourself and your family.
If you work hard enough.
And those who don't work hard enough aren't able to do that.
We who are lazy are feeling the pressures of not enough money.
It is my fault that I'm in this position.
I'm not educated enough.
I didn't make the right decisions.
Something that puts the blame on me.
I'm to blame that things are tough, and if I just worked harder I would be better off.
My family doesn't work hard enough.
My family is lazy.
We're all lazy.
And therefore we're deserving of difficult financial times.
If only we were better educated.
If only we had made different choices.
We would be able to afford what we need.

In order to afford to get his teeth cleaned, my son needed dental insurance.
Along with the bill for dental insurance, we needed to pay for the cost of his procedure dental insurance didn't cover.
In order to pay a $156 teeth cleaning bill, we needed to pay $96.52 this month alone plus the extra amount the insurance wouldn't cover.

Let's break it down like this:
My son got his teeth cleaned.
The bill for this service was $156.
We will pay $203.52 for this service.

This needs to be a crime.
This absolutely must be against the law, as it is an abomination.

And why have you remained silent about this?
Is it because it really doesn't matter if another poor family gets poorly taken care of in this country?
Is it because it really doesn't matter if another poor family gets poorly taken care of in your country?
And why are you proud to be part of a country that treats its citizens poorly?
And why do you continue to listen to the lies you've been fed all your life?
And why have you remained silent?