Dental Insurance Articles
Options For Employers Looking To Add Group Dental Insurance
2010-08-31
Dental insurance, which pays a portion of the cost of a person's dental care, is a benefit employees value. With skyrocketing costs, dental insurance has moved out of the luxury category. You may be exploring options to get a dental insurance quote for your family, as well as looking at employer dental plans to offer as part of your benefits package. This is the time to do things right. Start by educating yourself about the different kinds of dental insurance available.
Several different options are open to you and to your employees. The employer dental plans you choose depend on a number of factors, including the number of employees, the location of the business, underwriting and state requirements. A Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO) is a health care policy option that pays the dentist on a per person basis, instead of paying for the treatment itself. An Indemnity/Individual Dental Insurance plan allows the employee to choose a dentist. Then, the dental plan pays the dentist on a fee for service basis. A Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) is a sort of compromise between an HMO and an indemnity plan. This plan lets a group of patients get dental treatment from a group of specified dentists. Within these categories, there are different kinds of plans. For instance, PPOs include co-pay plans, graduating dental benefits, and special retiree benefits.
If you are already offering group health insurance to your employees, adding employer dental plans pushes you into a different category as an employer. Because dental coverage is not as universal as other medical coverage, the public views this offering favorably as a special "perk." This gives you an opportunity to please your current and potential employees and offer them a tangible benefit.
Making group health insurance part of your employee benefit package may help you in hiring and retaining high quality workers. Additionally, you and your family may benefit from the lower rates you can get as part of a group.
For your benefit, as well as the benefit of your employees, when you are getting a dental insurance quote, for each plan you are considering, find out if everyone can choose his or her own dentist on the plan and can select the treatment he or she believes is best. Find out exactly what is covered on the plan. Usually, a dental plan pays all costs for preventative care. Other treatments are often a 50/50 split in costs. Determine also what the costs will be to you, as the business owner, and to your employees.
Dental insurance is a cost-effective way to sweeten the benefits package. Adding it to an existing healthcare plan is good business.