Anthem Blue Cross California health insurance premiums almost as much as the maximum benefit anaheim, California

You're not reading something right in your policy document. Maybe one type of service has a max benefit for $500 per year (like maybe just braces or just x-rays), but it's definitely not for the entire policy. No one would buy it and frankly it would never get approved by the insurance commission.

My dental policy is an eye-popping $4.26 a month with a $1500 annual policy maximum. That's pretty standard for dental insurance. Reread your policy or call Blue Cross to get further clarification.

  "I pay $300 per year to pay for dental "insurance" that has a maximum benefit of $500 per year. "

   Sounds like a good policy to have if you're planning on having at least $500 of dental work done every year.     If you don't plan to have dental work done, a different policy would probably be better.  

  If you think the policy is so ridiculous, what does that say about the person who is choosing to pay for it?   Unless someone is forcing you to buy this insurance, there's no ripoff.  Just poor decision making on your part.  Not sure that I'd choose to broadcast that to the world, but that's up to you.