Speaker 1: Let's go to Sammi from New York City. Sammy, welcome to
the program. Welcome back, I should say. Speaker 3: Oh, hi, David. Hi. Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yes, I can. Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Thank you.
Thanks for taking my call. This is a question not really about politics, but sort of
why is it that in health care, the dental coverage is included in health care? And
isn't that something good that a politician could run on is trying to get that into
place because dental health is so important. Speaker 1: This is a major issue, which is a
lot of people say, why is it that dental health insurance is typically not included except for
children by default in health insurance? Why have we taken this one aspect of health, oral
health and said this one thing is separate? It's a completely, completely separate thing. It doesn't
really make any sense. And there are all sorts of historical reasons involving moneyed interests and
lobbyists, etc., as to why that's the case. Quite frankly, the answer is it should be all part of
the same thing. There's no reason people should have to get separate dental insurance. It also,
by the way, by making it a separate thing, suggests to people you've got all your real
health stuff here. And then there's kind of like this other thing, which is dental health. It's
not really that important. It's separate. That's why we've categorized it separately,
which is completely wrong. So it's basically money. Money in health care is the reason why,
by default, dental insurance is not included. And by the way, I have not had a dental insurance for
I guess it's 12 years since I went off of my parents insurance because I went to my dentist at
that point and I said, you know, with tears in my eyes, I can't I'm, you know, big, strong guy. My
dentist is a big, strong guy. And I said to him, I'm I'm going to lose. Should I be buying because
I'm self-employed? Should I be buying this health and dental insurance? And he started crying and
said with tears in his eyes, If you can believe it, Sammy, I wouldn't do it. You know, your dental
health is pretty good. Think about it. You've got two cleanings a year. I tend to get little
cavities. On average, you've got a couple little cavities a year. That's at the time that that was
like 500 bucks. The dental insurance would have been the exact same amount, but it only covers up
to a maximum benefit of like 1200 bucks. So there was this tiny window where the dental insurance
made sense. So I've self-insured on elements of dental ever since and I'm fine with it. But let's
be honest, it should be part of health insurance. Speaker 3: Oh yeah. Because so many people,
like they don't go to the dentist. It brings on so many other health issues that know
people might think are not related. But it's your whole body. It's your whole wellness.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Speaker 3: And it's it's so important. And it's
just something because I just went to the dentist, too, and I was like, thank God everything's good.
But I'm just like, what's with, you know, why isn't it combined? It's yo, it's really
so annoying. And I think in a lot of ways it's something people don't really even think about
like, yeah, why are they combined? Why are they not combined? Yeah. And that's something maybe,
um, again, maybe a politician might
bring that up at some point. I don't know. Speaker 1: But I have heard it brought up and I am
with you, Sammy. I appreciate you bringing it up. Speaker 3: Yeah. And, you know, I'm so happy that
you're well with COVID. You know, that you're past it and just hope you don't have any rebounds or.
I'm so scared of getting it. I've never had it. And I kind of want it. Never want it. Yeah,
I know. But yeah, no, I'm so glad. And it. It's always a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 1: The pleasure is all mine, Sammy. Thank you for the call, you.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. Have a good day. Speaker 1: All right, folks, let's take a
very quick break, but we're not done with calls. We're going right back to
calls in a moment. I just need a very brief pause and then we'll go right back to it.