If you don't work for a government employer (and often even when you do), you don't get dental or eyeglass insurance anymore. Of if they offer it, it's really just a "We'll give you two free cleanings a year, and everything else at our 'contract' price with the dentist!" (Pro tip- for $60 you can get a membership from the dental insurer to have those same dentists provide the work for 'contract' price, which is normally 33-50% cheaper than their 'no insurance' price.) Because dental care (and eyeglasses care to a lesser extent) is essential to people-- you can't rightly walk around with an abscessed tooth without getting something done about it-- we've seen a huge explosion in the price of dental care.
I have a friend who was born with a condition where the roots of all her teeth keep growing slowly through her life. Now they have reach so far up into her skull and jaw that she has chronic severe pain as the nerves are compressed throughout her head. It's a condition that didn't really start affecting her quality of life until a few years ago and has gradually become so bad that now it is at the point of being unbearable. The only course of action is to remove all her teeth and the roots (effectively all root canals) and replace them with fake teeth.
Of course health insurance doesn't cover it because it's a dental procedure, even though it's a congenital health condition causing her chronic pain. Her health insurance will cover pain medicine, but that's it. And that's not really an answer to the problem.
She went to a dentist. Total cost: $98,000. Paid up front. You can't finance it or something because the amount is so large. So there's no payment plan to go on. If you can't afford that, then you just have to live with chronic pain for the rest of your life. Fortunately she discovered: (1) that she can have the procedure done in Mexico for $18,000 (which isn't as risky as you might think, Mexican dental tourism is a big thing here in Texas); and (2) she has family that will provide her the money to have it done.
What is wrong with our country that these things are considered priorities? Why is it acceptable to look at someone with a debilitating condition that makes your life nearly unlivable and say, "Well you're not rich, so just suffer." Or "Well, if you want to do something about it, you'll have to destroy yourself financially." This is so gross and wrong.
Dental care is ridiculous.
Re: Dental care is ridiculous.
It's because these people who desperately need some sort of health care (or housing, or child care, or food...) are jealous of the rich and they just need to get over it.