Health insurance for babies

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hi! I'd have a question on the above.

We're expecting a baby in Spring.

I've personally never had any complementary insurance plans, only the basic package yet as I understand it due to the overall lower price of the child insurance and also because children tend to get sick more often, many opt to take max available complementary plans to their newborns.

I am having a question about the complementary dental insurance, more precisely about the coverage for braces.

Is it worth to take it for a newborn in a sense that a child gets permanent teeth in the age of ~7 and braces can be received in the age of ~9?

Ie. does this kind of complementary insurance get re-evaluated every year and the child could be denied it right before reaching the age when it's useful or it actually makes sense to take it when it's not useful and wait until the age it is useful? How does it typically work?

Sorry if there are some unreasonable assumptions/thoughts in my post, zero experience with this topic at all =)

2
If you have it then insurance cannot be taken away. Personally we had it since birth, others opt to add it later. I have friends whose kid has a condition we're the enamel is super soft and then had to pay out of pocket as insurance would not take them.

Just take a good dental insurance as many are quite expensive for little payout. I quote like Groupe Mutuel. If you search the forum you will find reccomendation.

3
We never bothered, as the payout isn't worth it.

Tom

4
Surely the vast majority of children do NOT need braces.

5
Unless they are Americans.

Tom

6
My wife needed them so we have a reason to suspect it=) In any case it's a part of a dental insurance in general, just trying to choose a reasonable one.

7
Thanks for now I checked out Helsana, I did not know about Groupe Mutuel, I'll check it as well.

SO, once a complementary insurance is taken it cannot be taken away annually, right. Then it makes sense to take it now indeed.

8
Actually if you look at children these days I’d say that the majority of them do have braces.

Whether they strictly speaking need them is a moot point but a large number of them have them.

9
Not that I've seen.

Tom

10
Wrong, of course it can.

Tom

11
You don’t work with school age kids do you?

12
I asked my daughter's orthodontist - does she need braces for medical or cosmetic reasons, and he got really offended.

But our Gemeinde gave us 100 francs towards the bill... "Maybe you can have a meal with your spouse with it?".

13
Really? I'm an utter risk and cost more than I pay, but Swica haven't taken mine away.

14
I think they can take it away for things like not paying the bills but not because you’ve claimed too much.

15
Technically true, but most insurers waive that option as long as you pay the premium. See their T&C.

16
I have had enough of them (2, 6 if you count step kids), and seen enough of their friends as well.

Tom

17
Perhaps a town versus rural thing? Definitely not the norm in my rural area! Perhaps depends on the % of expats too.

18
Local schools, local kids and lots of them have braces of some sort or another.

They’re not always visible so you wouldn’t necessarily know they have braces. They are much less obvious these days.

19
And how many for non-aesthetic reasons?

Tom

20
I would suggest taking dental/supplementary insurance before child is born because:

1. No health questionnaire to fill e.g. pre existing problem etc

2. Some companies payout for the braces depend on years insured before e.g. CHF 500 per completed insurance year in Assura denta plus.

3. If a child need specs then basic health insurance only pays around chf 180.- while real cost is quite high.

4. Basic complementary+Dental is pretty cheap for kids, you can later decide and cancel if you find it is not useful.