Open Sesame Dentistry

Insurance Coverage for Patients

At Open Sesame Dentistry, we partner with a wide range of insurance providers to ensure your child’s dental care is both accessible and affordable. Our commitment is to remove financial barriers so you can focus on what really matters—your child’s oral health. By accepting numerous insurance plans and offering flexible payment options, we make it easier for families to get the high-quality dental services they deserve. We believe you should never have to choose between your budget and a healthy, happy smile for your child.

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Insurance Coverage & Available Options for patients

At Open Sesame Kids, we believe that high‐quality pediatric dental care should be accessible to every family. That’s why we partner with a broad network of insurance providers—including those listed below—to keep your child’s care convenient and budget‐friendly. If you have any questions about your specific coverage, please contact our office and we’ll be happy to help.

We do work with most employer provided insurance plans as a non-participating out of network provider. Call today for for our full list of coverage, including but not limited to:

  • Aetna Dental Plans
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas Federal
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of New York (Syracuse)
  • Careington Care PPO
  • CIGNA
  • Corporate Benefit Services of America (now Meritain Health)
  • DDIC
  • Delta Dental of California
  • Delta Dental of Colorado
  • Delta Dental of Illinois
  • Delta Dental of Massachusetts
  • Delta Dental of Minnesota
  • Delta Dental of New York
  • Delta Dental of Pennsylvania
  • Delta Dental of Washington
  • Delta Dental of Wisconsin
  • Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield
  • GHI – New York (Group Health Inc.)
  • Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America
  • MetLife
  • Solstice
  • Sunflower State Health
  • United Concordia Companies, Inc.
  • United Healthcare

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What insurance policies do we not accept:

We DO NOT accept Medicaid/ Healthfirst.
We DO NOT accept HMO or DMO insurance

Cash patients with a first-time appointment which includes Prophy, Fluoride and Exams will need to be paid upfront.

We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. At no time do we guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim. We also can not be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance.

We currently do NOT accept the following Insurance Claims Providers

  1. Medicaid
  2. Healthfirst
 

Our aim is to make your kids dental visit as stress-free, quick and seamless as possible.

Before your child’s appointment, and at our discretion, we recommend that you verify your dental insurance coverage to ensure a smooth and efficient visit. It’s important to confirm your benefits and notify understand if any co-pays, deductibles, or out-of-pocket expenses that apply.

To help expedite this process, we also recommend that you provide us with your insurance information when scheduling the appointment. 

This will help avoid any surprises on the day of the visit and ensure that your child receives the best care possible.

Please note: We do not have specific information on Insurance provider coverage as each persons policy can vary significantly and any policy information, claims and benefits are not accessible by us, and must be confirmed by the patient / patients parents prior to treatment. 

If we have received all of your insurance information on the day of the appointment, we will be happy to file your claim for you. You must be familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will collect from you the estimated amount insurance is not expected to pay. By law your insurance company is required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt. 

As a courtesy to our patients, we will electronically submit all dental insurance claims so they can easily be processed. We will work with your benefit administrator to estimate and maximize the amount of services your employer has chosen for you. Our dental practice cannot render services on the assumption that the resulting charges will be covered by insurance. Please understand that the parent/guardian bringing the child to our practice is legally responsible for payment of all charges. With regard to billing, it is our policy not to mail statements. We appreciate your understanding and for your convenience, we accept cash, checks and all major credit cards.

We Accept the following payment methods:

1. Cash/Zelle
2. Credit Cards
3 Debit Cards
4. HSA

Navigating dental care costs can be complex, but we are dedicated to offering straightforward and flexible financial options for your family. Whether it is understanding insurance benefits or exploring payment alternatives, our aim is to make the process clear and convenient for you.

Recognizing the needs of families without insurance benefits, we are proud to offer our Smile Assurance Plan. This in-house plan is tailored to make pediatric dental care in New York City, NY, more affordable, allowing you to manage dental expenses while ensuring your child receives essential dental care.

To find out more about this policy, please contact our head office. 

Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fee. Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by how much you or your employer has paid for coverage or the type of contract your employer has set up with the insurance company.

We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. At no time do we guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim. We also can not be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance.

You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist’s actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist’s fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee (“UCR”) used by the company. A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable or well above what most dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.

Insurance companies set their own schedules and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the “allowable” UCR Fee. Frequently this data can be three to five years old and these “allowable” fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.

Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is “overcharging” rather than say that they are “underpaying” or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.

When estimating dental benefits, deductibles and percentages must be considered. To illustrate, assume the fee for service is $150.00. Assuming that the insurance company allows $150.00 as its usual and customary (UCR) fee, we can figure out what benefits will be paid. First a deductible (paid by you), on average $50, is subtracted, leaving $100.00. The plan then pays 80% for this particular procedure. The insurance company will then pay 80% of $100.00, or $80.00. Out of a $150.00 fee they will pay an estimated $80.00 leaving a remaining portion of $70.00 (to be paid by the patient). Of course, if the UCR is less than $150.00 or your plan pays only at 50% then the insurance benefits will also be significantly less.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, please keep us informed of any insurance changes such as policy name, insurance company address, or a change of employment.

*Last Updated February 2025

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Book Early to secure your appointment - Limited Availability Every Week

Secure your child’s dental care by booking early! With limited availability every week, scheduling ahead ensures your little one receives timely attention from our experienced team. Don’t delay – reserve your appointment today to guarantee prompt and personalized care for your child’s dental needs.

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