By The National Association of Dental Plans

According to the 2011 NADP/DDPA Joint Dental Benefits Report on Enrollment, only one percent of the U.S. residents with dental insurance have their benefits through an individual policy. But that does not mean that purchasing dental coverage is not an individual decision. With employers’ benefit budgets accommodating continued increases in health care costs, many employers turn to voluntary coverage to provide highly valued dental coverage to their employees at no cost to the employer.

Accordingly, significant growth is expected in employer offerings of voluntary coverage—particularly with the implementation of health care reform’s requirement for small employers and individuals to include children’s dental.

As you can see, voluntary coverage is becoming an important part of benefit packages, one that allows companies to keep costs in line with their cash flow and still provide access to coverage.

• 1) their employees ask for it,
• 2) they understand the connections between oral health and overall health and
  
• 3) it is affordable. 
  

• Restructuring an employer-paid benefit to include an employee buy-up option
• Replacing one of their employer-paid benefits with voluntary
• Adding voluntary to complement existing employer-paid benefits

1. Dental HMOs provide the lowest premium and predictable out of pocket costs for those that don’t mind a limited network of dentists.
2. Dental PPOs expand the choice of dentists in the network, adding out-of-network options at higher out of pocket costs.
3. Dental indemnity has the highest premium with no network restrictions
4. Discount dental provides discounts on care including procedures not typically covered by the dental insurance products above—like cosmetic procedures—but the full discounted price is paid out-of-pocket by the consumer.