Federal Employees Could Be Getting Foreign Dental Work

Government Dental Plan Soliciting Bids from Offshore Labs

The US government employs several million individuals. As their employer, it’s the government’s job to provide health care coverage to all of these people: soldiers and politicians, maintenance workers and administrators.

Health care benefits for federal employees are managed through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). There are seven insurance carriers that provide supplemental dental and vision benefits under the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). Four of these are nationwide plans, and the other three provide coverage in certain regions.

Aetna Life Insurance Company
Government Employees Health Association, Inc. (GEHA)
MetLife Inc.
United Concordia Companies, Inc.
Group Health, Inc. (New York state area)
CompBenefits (Southeastern US)
Triple-S, Inc. (Puerto Rico)

I have heard that one of these dental insurance companies has been soliciting bids from offshore dental laboratories. They’re looking to provide a low-cost product option to their network of providers, and it’s nearly impossible to compete with the prices offered by some foreign labs. ($29 dental crowns from China, anyone?)

There are any number of reasons why this might be cause for concern, but chief among them is the Buy American Act. Passed in 1933, this legislation states that the US government should preferentially purchase American products over foreign-made goods. Though exceptions can be made for price or quality issues, the basic principle is that America’s government should patronize American businesses whenever possible.

About GEHA

Since 2007, the Government Employees Health Association (GEHA) Connection Dental Federal^SM dental plan has provided comprehensive dental benefits for federal employees. (GEHA also offers federal employees health plan options.) GEHA’s proprietary Connection Dental® network includes more than 43,000 dental provider locations across the country. GEHA has grown to be the second-largest national health insurance plan serving the federal market.

With reports surfacing that some dental crowns and bridges may be contaminated with lead, there are also health concerns about outsourcing dental restorations. The FDA doesn’t directly regulate overseas labs, and the National Association of Dental Labs warns that there are significant holes in the FDA’s oversight of dental lab manufacturing.

And yet we have GEHA shopping for cut-rate bids from foreign dental labs… Am I the only one who sees a problem here?

Post your own comments

Michael Jackson DDS

It’s a sad day when our government ” sells out ” it’s employees for $29-69 dollar crowns . What can you expect for that price?… poor fit, unknown materials (LEAD) , and use China instead of USA products. The whole thought of it disgusts me.
http://smilefresno.com Rosemary Pfeiffer

Your next article states that over 80% of dentists want to be their own boss. When you become a participating dentist under some insurance plans, the insurance plan then becomes the boss — especially if they can dictate where to send your lab work to and what metals are used.
Louis Sachs, DDS

That really galls me that the Federal Government insurance plans would do something like that. I’ve been in private practice for 20 years and the reimbursements from FEP, GEHA, MailHandlers, etc. have not been raised (but I’m sure the premium has been raised). I look at this as another way for the insurance carriers to further cut back on payments to dentists. With FEDVIP being totally supported by the members premium dollars, the members should insist on quality, not the cheapest. I’ll make sure that GEHA’s mailings get thrown away, as I have absolutely no respect for them now.
Jieshak

I’m an owner of a foreign dental lab here in asia. When i was still an employee for an international dental lab (from the US)that company adheres to strict rule that nobody from the outside should know that we serve american doctors and they never revealed to us the name of our mother company in the US. They keep this from their doctors they just have a small lab to do the minor retouch but most of their works comes from Asia. The Asian labs priced a crown for
$29 per unit but when it reach the US shores the prices are no diferrence with the US dental labs. So how can you be sure that the crowns your paying in a higher price was made intirely made in the US?? by the way most of the dental labs in Asia uses German and American products there’s no such thing as china made porcelains.
Bonnita

At $1000.00 per crown in the US I’m definitely taking a Costa Rican vacation to get my next dental work done.An American trained Doctor NOT trying to leave me homeless while I pay for his tee times is a much better option. Maybe that would wake up American dentists and give us a fair price.
Bob Serrahn

Hi

I have been researching the GEHA FEDVIP monthly High Option Single plan, and I have a question on the limitations and exclusion.

I do my cost comparisons using the cost of a crown.
What is your allowed cost of a crown. Locally the price is $800. My question is what does the High Option plan allow for a crown?

Thank you

Bob Serrahn
http://www.dentalvisits.com Cosmetic Dentist Brooklyn New York

Is this another case here, where this issue revolves more around trade barriers? Judy Johnson DDS
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