Popularity of Dental Insurance
The benefits of dental insurance coverage have been further
stressed upon by the popular icons on the television, who always
seem to have flashing white flawless teeth. These teeth are a
result of care, expensive dental care and thus need for
expensive group dental insurance plans provided by insurance
companies that reducing in number by the day.
Group dental insurance plans have been growing rapidly placed in
the niche market of employee benefit programs. A few years back,
dental insurance was a non-descript part of employee benefit
programs and very simple to plan and execute. Most plans used
were for full coverage of preventive care and cleaning, 80%
coverage for basic restoration and 50% coverage for major
restorative services like crowns and bridges. Despite advice
many employees never visited their dentists resulting in the
overall cost of insurance being low and stable compared to
general health benefit plans which rose year after year. For
many years dental insurance was a simple rider for employers who
took it major plans from big insurance companies.
The last few years saw a spurt in television advertising and as
the smiles brightened on the idiot box, the importance of whiter
smiles and straighter teeth became apparent and people started
taking more interest in dental care. This in turn saw a spurt in
rise of dental insurance premiums almost at the rate of 7-10% a
year. This rate is significant and big employers started looking
at it with a bigger eye. This tells on the bottom-line of the
company since the employee benefit expenses are going up due to
this rise. The dental insurance costs about 10% of the total
employee benefits for a corporate today. So the rise in premium
year after year, pushes the total employee benefit expenses 1%
higher year after year.
"Employers aren't paying that much attention yet, but
considering the way dental plans are evolving, they should,"
says Donald S. Mayes, dental plan auditor and consultant from
Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Dental Insurance plans, as a part of employment package have
also increased in popularity. So big companies, to recruit and
retain their employees cannot do away with these plans; at the
same time have to watch the cost going upward. A Catch 22
decision is awaited.