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Employment Dental Plans - Choosing an Employment Dental Plan

Many employers are looking for ways to reduce their overall costs of doing business. One of the large costs for many employers is the cost of providing health care benefits to employees, including providing an employment dental plan . Group dental insurance plans fall into three categories ‚- traditional dental insurance, managed dental care plans, and discount dental plans.

Traditional Dental Insurance

Many employers are familiar with traditional dental insurance . This type of employment dental plan is a group indemnity plan that provides dental insurance for their employees and employee families.

For small employers, finding and getting approval for traditional dental insurance can be problematic, since employees are often required to complete a health history form and may have pre-existing conditions excluded from coverage for a period of time.

Traditional dental insurance requires monthly premiums be paid and often requires an annual deductible that is paid by the employee. There are usually caps on the annual amount of out-pocket-expenses for individuals and families.

One of the disadvantages with traditional dental insurance is the limit placed on reimbursement for routine dental care services such as visits to a dental hygienist, crowns or bridges. Additionally, since many dentists no longer accept assigned or direct payment from the dental insurance provider, it is left to the patient to file claims for reimbursement and pay for services in full to the dentist at the time they are provided.

Managed Dental Care Plans

An alternative for many employers to the traditional dental insurance plan is the managed dental care plan. Managed care dental plans have emerged in similar reaction to the overall rising costs of health care services. Similar to managed health care programs, managed dental care plans provide members with a list of network providers that have agreed to lower fees for their services.

For employers, managed dental plans can offer distinct advantages over traditional dental insurance because premiums are significantly lower. Managed dental plans sometimes have an annual deductible that is applied to services received by members and members are required to pay a copay for each visit to their dental care provider. As with traditional dental insurance, services for cosmetic dentistry or orthodontic services are not usually included.

Discount Dental Plans

These days Discount dental plans are becoming more and more popular for group plans and for individual plans alike. Discount dental plans offer the flexibility of being more cost efficient because they do not require monthly premiums but also offer coverage for a wider range of dental care services that are not usually covered under traditional or managed dental care insurance plans. Examples of covered services include cosmetic dentistry services such as teeth whitening , veneers or dental implants. Additional covered services include routine dental care services, plus care provided by an orthodontist . Rates for coverage are applied on an annual flat-rate basis.

Summary

Employers are looking for ways to provide health care benefits to their employees in a more cost efficient manner, while also offering desired and valued benefits that satisfy their health care needs, including the need for dental care. There are three different types of employer dental care plans available ‚- traditional dental insurance, managed dental care plans and discount dental plans.