March 2007 Newsletter
What´s New at Savon
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In every newsletter you will find a secret word or phrase. When you locate the word or phrase, copy the entire paragraph and paste it into an email along with your Savon membership ID number and your name.
Send the email to customerservice@savondentalplan.com. The emails will be printed and the winning entry will be drawn on the 15th of the following month. All entries must be received by the 10th of the month (July 10th for Junes newsletter, etc.). The winning entry will receive a check from Savon for $25.00. Only one entry per family is allowed and you may only win once per 12 months. The secret phrase for March is "sneak peek "
Quote of the month: "One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork!" Edward Abbey (1927-1989)
Cohen’s Corner – Straight talk from the Doctor:
As we all get the credit card bills from holiday shopping
What does dentistry have to do with your credit card bill from Christmas? Let me tell you! Many of you have e-mailed and called me to ask the single most important question about Savon Dental Plan, “What‘s in it for me?” Before I answer your question, let me tell you a little tidbit about my background outside of dentistry.
Besides my dental degree, I have a degree in finance. OK, now on to the question at hand! “What‘s in it for me?”
Although the insurance companies would like you to think that you are getting something for little or no cost, this just isn‘t true. Have you tried to read any insurance policy these days? You will need three things to read an insurance policy:
- A magnifying glass,
- About one to three hours of very concentrated time, and
- A financial planner or CPA to show you what the numbers are really saying.
I will try to make this simple and painless as I have always tried to do as a practicing dentist. Remember we are just talking about the good old regular ‘bread and butter’ indemnity insurance. If you are interested in the whole story of dental “insurance” I will refer you to our article title, “Unraveling the Mysteries of Dental Coverage”. Back to the subject at hand!
Simple and straight forward, dental indemnity insurance is the most expensive type of dental coverage. On top of that since the 1970‘s not only has the cost of insurance (premiums) gone up astronomically, but the cost of dentistry has gone up 300 to 400%. If that‘s not bad enough, the total dollar coverage one gets hasn't gone up much at all and still has roughly a yearly range of $750 to $1500 per year. More bad news (sorry) is that that coverage expires every year, so it doesn't accumulate if you don‘t use it all in a single year.
OK you‘re saying, but what does that have to do with my Christmas credit card bill? I‘m getting there!
One more point that you need to be clear on is that although the insurance company only pays a percentage of your dental bill, without raising the coverage per year to keep up with inflation for thirty plus years, your $750-$1500 per year just doesn‘t help out that much. Oh yeah, did I mention that dental insurance can cost anywhere between about $300-$1500 or more per year?
So now comes the part I love, the math! Let‘s take a hypothetical situation with these numbers. You paid $300 for dental insurance that covers you for the year with $1000 of coverage. You are so thrilled that you can now afford to go to the dentist because you have insurance. Good thought, but wrong! A single tooth that needs a root canal, post and build-up, and crown at today‘s prices could cost (in Arizona) between:
| Root Canal |
Post & Build-up |
Crown |
| $500 - $900 |
$215 - $300 |
$950- $1400 |
OK now let‘s see what you will save!
| First of all most dental insurances have a deductible which is about |
$ 50 per year |
| Most good insurance premiums (I‘m figuring low here) for a single person are |
$300 per year |
| Most good insurances cover root canals at 80% of cost so average cost to you is |
$140 |
| Most good insurances cover post and build-ups at roughly 70% so average cost to you is |
$ 77 |
| Most good insurances cover crowns at 50% of the cost so average cost to you is |
$587 |
| Total cost out of your pocket for one tooth is |
$1,154 |
This cost is with your dental insurance, using average prices for this example. If that isn‘t bad enough, you have used $804 of your yearly maximum, so I hope you don‘t have a problem with any other teeth until next year or you will be paying most of the cost out of your pocket at 100%! What does dentistry have to do with your Christmas credit card bill?
My answer is just as you shopped as prudently as possible for Christmas, so should you shop as prudently for a dental plan. Your savings on dentistry could pay your whole Christmas credit card bill and keep on saving you money for next year‘s Christmas gifts!
Please email me if you have any questions or comments on Cohen‘s Corner at Dr. Cohen
Thank-you and Have a nice Spring Dr. B. Cohen
Congratulations to L. Fox of Chandler, Arizona Winner of our February T. V. Drawing
Ms. Fox of Chandler was the lucky winner of our February T. V. drawing. Ms. Fox contacted us on the day it was delivered and told us how happy she was, both with the television and her dental plan.
We want to thank the more than 500 members that entered the drawing. We feel that even though you may not have won this month, you are all winners.
New website look facing a delay:
As of this article, we are running about 30 days behind in rolling out the new look of our website. If any of you would like a sneak preview, click on Sneak Peek
We are really excited about the new look and we welcome everyone's input.
As we bid adieu to our winter visitors:
If you fit into this category, we wish you a safe journey home and look forward to your return this fall. I do need to remind you that, in most cases, you can now take Savon with you. Simply check out our list of dentists to see if we have a Network Preferred Provider in your area.
If we do not have a Network Preferred Provider in your area and you are a member of the Plus Plan, you may use any dentist in the Network Provider list. If there is a good dentist in your area and you would like to see them become a provider, simply have them call us at 800-809-3494 or tell them to visit our website and look under become a provider.
Again thank you for your trust in Savon and we look forward to seeing you again this fall.
Interested in playing golf?
We are in the beginning stages of putting together a charity golf tournament. We are trying to plan it for the fall of this year. If you are interested in playing or helping with this event, please contact our Director of Sales and Marketing: Ms. Meri Osborne. We need all the help we can get to make this tournament a success.
Moving? Don't leave us behind!
Are you thinking about moving or have you already moved? We know how hectic a move can be and the last thing we think of is everyone we need to contact. We send out bills every month and get back quite a few because someone has moved and the forwarding order has expired or there never was one. Because we have lost contact with these members, we have no other choice than to cancel their plan.
It only takes a moment to give us a call or even email customer service with any changes you may have. The little bit of time you take to contact us might save you from having to reinstate your plan and paying a reinstatement fee or loosing your membership rate you were guaranteed when you first joined.
So remember if you're going to move, please let us know and remember, in most cases you can now take Savon with you anywhere in the United States.
Marketing has money waiting for you!
The marketing department has spent a lot of time brainstorming, writing and re-writing ads, researching our competition, and educating ourselves on the latest marketing trends and technology. Up to now, we‘ve managed well with the standard campaigns, and we are now fully prepared to launch with full force, concentrating on the internet and the big-named search engines.
We are confident that our new marketing strategies will spark recognition and, thus, help Savon continue to grow and become the most consumer/provider-friendly dental plan in America.
Although internet, television, radio and print ads are an important marketing resource, nothing replaces the good old fashioned "Word of Mouth" advertising. We love it when our members talk about Savon. We love it so much that we pay our members between $22.25 and $59.50 for every new member that they refer to us.
So come on members, Tell your friends, family and co-workers why you are smiling - YOU'VE GOT SAVON!!!
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