What is the waiting time for dental insurance?

Many people do not know the waiting time for thedental insurance. This is the time between when you first sign up for an insurance plan and when coverage begins.

A waiting period for dental insurance is a period of time after you sign up for your plan before you can begin using it.

It can be difficult to track your waiting period because it differs depending on whether you have individual or employer-sponsored dental coverage or Government.

Most insurers will require a waiting period before starting to cover dental costs. Some waiting periods are only a few weeks or months while others are years. The length of the waiting period depends on the policy.

Most dental insurance policies have waiting periods ranging from two to four weeks before standard work can be carried out. Depending on the insurance company, the waiting period for major treatment can start from the second year. These periods are set by insurers to ensure they take advantage of a new account and to discourage people from applying for a new policy to cover impending procedures.

On the other hand, some dental insurance companies will not pay for preventive procedures performed during the waiting period. Waiting periods can last anywhere from a few months to a full year depending on what you have in your dental plan and what that plan covers.

Why is there a waiting period?

Dental insurance companies choose to use a waiting period, so customers don't only buy dental insurance when they have a lot of dental work. The other reason has to do with the fact that insurers want to prevent people from getting covered and then dropping dental insurance after they have received dental care.

Once the waiting period is over, all benefits are available to you, but it is important to know which coverages fall within the waiting period.

In your dental plan, there are probably three coverage groups.

• Preventive: Preventative procedures may often not have a waiting period. For this reason, however, certain services are available with a waiting period.
• Basic: Basic procedures may have a waiting period of three to six months.
• Major works:  “Major” procedures can have a waiting period of 6 months to a year.

What is the waiting time for employer-provided dental insurance?

In most cases, the waiting period for employer-provided dental insurance is three months. This means employees must wait three months from the start of their coverage before becoming eligible for benefits.

The waiting period is intended to prevent people from signing up for coverage only when they need dental care.

Sometimes, employer-sponsored dental plans do not have waiting periods.

Yet, not all dental insurance companies have a waiting period for dental insurance. Wait times for dental insurance vary by company and insurer.

Billing during the waiting period by RAMQ

Any person who is patient and/or waiting to be covered by the Quebec health insurance plan must pay for the health services they receive during this 3-month waiting period or subscribe to private insurance.

People subject to the waiting period may be helped by insured medical services in these specific circumstances:

• cases related to pregnancy, childbirth or termination of pregnancy;
• victims of domestic or family violence or sexual assault;
• People with infectious health problems that have an impact on public health.

For more information, see here