2023 South Carolina Dental Insurance Plans

Average Premium, Co-Pays/Co-insurance Fees, & Benefit Limits in S.C.

The South Carolina dental insurance market has a variety of different coverage options for dental care. We reviewed 26 plans offered in 2022 ranging from indemnity and discount dental program plans to PPO dental insurance. Below we have the results of that analysis so you can compare plans available in your area to the state trends we observed and find the best value for your needs.

Price Trends

The average premium for dental coverage was $41.46 across the more than two dozen plans we researched. More than half the plans had premiums below this average. The lowest cost PPO dental plan in the group was the Humana Preventive Plus PPO. Its premium was less than $20 a month. The one indemnity dental plan in the group was Nationwide Classic 2000 + VSP Premium, that combined dental and vision benefits in a single plan. This was also the most expensive plan at $92.78 a month.

Most of the plans reviewed paid for a percentage of a dentist service bill, as opposed to charging the enrollee a flat fee copayment. For example, on average these plans covered 61 percent of the cost of fillings and 55 percent of the cost of teeth extractions.

Every dental plan other than the dental discount program had an annual limit on what the insurer would paid for covered dental care. The limits ranged from $500 to $5000 a year, with the average being $1,578. Within the details of these plans, this annual limit is often referred to as the “maximum benefit.”

Other Considerations

Another financial consideration for these dental plans is the deductible. The deductible is the amount of money the enrollee must pay for his or her own dental care before the plan begins contributing to the cost of treatment. All but one plan had a deductible. The lowest deductible was $25 a year per enrollee and the highest was $150. In the case of the $150 deductible, the deductible was paid one-time for as long as the enrollee stayed enrolled in the plan. Most deductibles reset every year. For the 25 plans with deductibles, the average was $66.

Finding the Best Value for You

Dental insurance rates can vary across a state. To see how dental plan costs compare in your region, use our tool to get dental insurance quotes for the available plans. You can also see what plans are popular in the state by reviewing the below list of the bestselling South Carolina plans on DentalInsurance.com.