Look Out For Your Smile, Because Medicare Certainly Won’t
As you approach retirement age, your daydreams about retirement focus increasingly on the things you will not have to do. You won’t have to commute to work, which means more sleeping in late and less money spent on gasoline and on the dry cleaning of work clothes. Attending social events at work will no longer be an obligation; when you socialize, you can choose the events based on how much you will enjoy them, not on how professionally advantageous they are. When medical bills arrive in the mail, your daydreams turn to how much lower your medical expenses will be once you qualify for Medicare. Dental bills are some of the most painful, even if the physical pain of dental treatments is considerably less than it was when you were a child. Unfortunately, Medicare leaves you in the lurch when it comes to dentistry, even though oral health is of paramount importance for seniors. For help carefully considering your retirement budget, including dental expenses, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.
If Medicare Pays for Your Dental Treatment, You Have Bigger Problems to Worry About Than Money
By the time you become eligible for Medicare, it becomes obvious just how much Medicare does not pay for. One of the things it does not pay for is routine dental exams and cleanings. This is unfortunate, because oral infections and poor dental hygiene contribute to many diseases of old age, from dementia to cardiovascular disease. To make matters worse, Medicare also doesn’t pay for costly dental interventions like root canals and periodontal cleanings, even though patients are more likely to need these treatments, the older they get. The only silver lining in this is the hope that all the money we have spent on our own children’s dental care will lead to them having better dental health and needing fewer invasive treatments later in life.
As for us, Medicare will only pay for mouth-related treatments if they are part of the management of a serious illness. For example, surgeons often require a dental exam and cleaning before they will clear a patient for heart valve surgery, and in this case, Medicare pays. Medicare will also cover treatments meant to cure oral infections before a patient begins chemotherapy. If you are hospitalized with facial injuries or are undergoing surgery for oral cancer, Medicare will pay for dental treatment you receive during your hospital stay. In other words, unless it is a matter of life and death, Medicare will not pay a penny toward your dental care.
The best way to deal with this problem is to get your dental work done now, which your employer-provided insurance covers it. Also budget for annual dental exams and semiannual cleanings in retirement, because these are important for your long-term health.
Contact Gierach and Gierach About Keeping a Healthy Smile in Retirement
An estate planning lawyer can help you plan for a healthy and affordable retirement. Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
medicare.gov/coverage/dental-services
