Dental insurance plans for employees

When it comes to deciding on which benefits to provide for your employees, health insurance usually receives the biggest share of time, attention and analysis. And rightfully so – your health insurance decisions can have an outsized impact on both the livelihoods of your staff and your company’s finances. However, as you make your choice, there’s another group of benefits that needs serious and thoughtful consideration: employee dental insurance.

Some might treat choosing a dental plan, or even offering dental coverage at all, as an afterthought. But as you’ll see, dental insurance is an essential benefit, serving as a key element to your employees’ overall health – and the health of your business.

There are many reasons why dental insurance is important for employees, including cost savings and providing an incentive to keep-up on the preventive dental care that helps ensure optimal oral and overall health. From a business perspective, dental insurance supports your ability to attract and retain top talent.

Let’s explore why offering dental benefits can pay off big in improving employee well-being and morale, resulting in better productivity and retention.

How to choose the right dental insurance plan for your employees

When it comes to choosing the right dental plan for your employees, the size of your organization plays a role in your plan choice. Generally, for organizations with 50 or fewer employees, your options include fully insured small employer dental plans. A fully insured plan places more risk on the dental insurance carrier – and less on the employer – because the carrier is responsible for all claims cost. Some carriers, such as HealthPartners, can offer fully insured small employer dental plans to employers up to 100 employees.

Large employers are often allowed more flexibility, choosing either a fully insured or a self-insured plan based on company size. A self-insured plan places the full risk on the employer because the employer is responsible for all claims costs. At HealthPartners, we require at least 51 enrolling employees for self-insured large employer plans. Generally, only large employers will be able to choose from fully insured or self-insured plan options.

Another item to consider is the network. A large network can accommodate employee dental needs wherever they live, work or travel. However, the actual network size can be calculated differently depending on the carrier. If you see numbers listed as “access points,” those figures don’t represent the actual number of dentists. A dentist who travels between two clinics may be counted as two access points. When reviewing networks, a preferred provider organization or PPO, is where greater discounts are found compared to non-PPO dentists.

In terms of premiums, plans can be contributory, where an employer pays a percent of an employee’s premium, or plans can be voluntary, where the employee pays the premium without a contribution from the employer. Additional benefits offered by your chosen plan also impact employer costs. For example, a carrier like HealthPartners has fewer limitations and exclusions than other dental insurance providers, which allows our plans to offer more robust benefits.

Company dental benefits for employees: More than the sum of their parts

When we think of dental insurance coverage, we usually think of the basics: Exams, X-rays, fillings and other common procedures. For healthy adults and children, it can all seem routine, more about a good-looking set of teeth than much else. But beyond an attractive smile is a body that depends on healthy teeth and gums to thrive – and even survive.

For employees, good dental health is key to good overall health

Dental health includes more than teeth. It also includes the gums, tongue, tonsils and the mouth that surrounds them. These soft tissues are tightly connected to the rest of your body, which means that if something goes wrong in your mouth, you can feel it elsewhere quickly.

For example, bacteria can find a very quick entry to the rest of your system through your gums. That’s why gum disease is such a big deal – especially since it’s linked to more serious illnesses like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Expecting mothers need to be especially aware of their dental health: Hormone changes during pregnancy have the potential to cause gingivitis, which is an early stage of gum disease. Also, according to the CDC, women who have cavity-causing bacteria during pregnancy and after the birth of their baby have the potential to pass them to their newborn children. These are just a few of the reasons why good dental health isn’t just important to overall health – it’s absolutely critical.

Preventive dental care catches big problems early to keep dental costs down

Dental care basics, like cleanings and exams, are considered preventive – think routine care that keeps mouths clean and protected from more painful (and more expensive) conditions like cavities and gum disease.

Regular visits help keep these dangers at bay while also directing your dentist’s attention to your evolving health. Over years of regular care, your dentist can see the condition of your teeth and gums slowly change as you age, detecting warning signs early and taking immediate action. It’s care that reduces the cost of dental insurance for employers and long-term dental needs for employees – which is why dental plans cover preventive care at no to little cost.

Employees are happier, healthier and more productive

Thankfully, there are practically zero situations where getting dental care is a matter of life or death. However, the pure pain and misery that come from toothaches, broken teeth and other dental emergencies can easily sap a person’s energy and morale. These, as well as the pain and illness from chronic dental conditions, contribute to serious amounts of sick days and reduced productivity.

By giving employees access to convenient, trusted and affordable dental care, all of these conditions can be handled timely – leading to reduced time off due to illness and employees who are focused more on their contributions and less on their painful teeth. Even better, these situations can be taken off the table completely with good preventive care, eliminating a productivity-affecting stressor from the lives of your employees, allowing them to be both healthier and happier.

Great dental insurance boosts morale, and helps with employee retention and recruitment

For a prospective employee, will a dental benefit package be the single deciding factor between your company and a competing employer? Probably not. That said, employee dental coverage should be considered a key piece of the overall suite of benefits you offer your present and future employees.

When employees receive benefits that matter to them, their family and their life, it has a positive effect on their overall morale and feelings about their employer. That positivity results in employees who stay with their company longer and make recruitment easier by promoting their employer to friends. A solid dental benefit package is a big part of that.

What are employees wanting from their dental insurance benefits?

When it comes to what employees want most from a good dental plan, affordability is often highest on the list. And it makes sense – of course employees want a balanced dental plan with reasonable deductibles, annual maximum amounts and coverage percentages at a manageable price. But what about plan specifics? What kind of coverage are employees really looking for, and how does that impact your bottom line?

Employees want comprehensive plans that’ll help cover their dental needs, such as checkups, fillings, root canals and crowns. If they have a family with children, orthodontic coverage is highly appreciated because of the cost. Employees also want high annual maximums and coinsurance amounts that cover a greater percentage of the procedure costs. However, those needs to be balanced with costs. The better the benefits, the higher the cost to both the employee and employer.

Dental care that covers employees and their families

As I mentioned before, preventive care is crucial in helping to reduce overall dental insurance costs for employers and their employees. Plans that charge members zero to little cost for comprehensive preventive care – including exams, cleanings and regular X-rays – should command your attention.

But it shouldn’t end there. As you evaluate insurers and plans, you should also review what other types of dental services, or benefits, a plan covers.

For example, HealthPartners includes the Little Partners^SM dental benefit in many of our employer dental plans. We know that catching and treating dental issues before the age of 12 can prevent bigger problems later in life. That’s why members enrolled in a plan with Little Partners get 100% in-network dental coverage for kids 12 years old and younger. That’s not just preventive care, but ALL non-orthodontic dental care with no deductible, coinsurance or annual maximum. It all translates to big cost savings now and even more savings as the children of your employees grow.

Specialized preventive care is also important for pregnant people and those with diabetes. Most of our plans also include HealthPartners MouthWise Matters, with enhanced benefits that cover extra checkups, cleanings and a set of gum care treatments, including scaling and root planing at in-network dentists at 100%.

These are the kinds of extras – ones that make a real, tangible difference in the lives of members, both for their overall health and their budgets – that you should seek when comparing the offerings of dental insurance carriers.

Dental networks that meet your employees wherever they are

Like many parts of our lives, the how and where of work have been forever transformed over the past several years. For many companies, today’s new reality of remote work has brought flexibility to current employees and removed geographic boundaries for recruiting new talent. But new horizons bring new questions: What kind of dental care can my employees get if they’re not near our headquarters? What about those who live here?

For the answer, you’ll want to look at the dental network or networks that support the plans you’re browsing. An insurer’s dental network is made up of dentists, dental clinics and other dental professionals that have an agreement with the insurer to provide services to their plan’s members at a discounted rate. When plan members go to these in-network providers for their services, they pay less than they would through an out-of-network provider.

As you evaluate dental carriers, look at the reach of their dental provider networks to make sure they match up with the footprint of your employees. Ideally, you’ll want to be able to give most, if not all, of your employees the ability to see an in-network dentist within a few miles of where they live, no matter where they are. If not, insurers with large, nationwide networks aren’t hard to find – take HealthPartners for example. Our dental plans include a national PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) network of 130,000 providers, giving our members access to quality, low-cost dental care from coast to coast.

The convenience of integrated dental plans and online tools

Another question often asked by employers: How can you make dental insurance easier to use? It’s a question often asked for employees, but there’s also another question hiding beneath – how can you make dental insurance easier to manage?

Having a single insurer for both medical and dental insurance can have many benefits, including saving time for employees and employers alike. One insurer means one name that your employees can turn to for their health and dental claims – no questions as to which insurer handles what issue. Employers can also take advantage of the convenience one insurer can bring when it comes to claims and service. If your current health insurer can also bring dental benefits to the table, it’s worth seeing what they can offer.

Employees who have both medical and dental benefits through HealthPartners have it especially easy. When members sign on to their online HealthPartners account, they can see their benefit information all in one place without searching another insurer’s website. And with the HealthPartners mobile app, these same members can get the information they need for both benefits wherever they are.

Thinking of adding employee dental insurance to your company benefits?

There are many factors to consider when shopping for a dental insurance plan that makes sense for your employees and business. We’re ready to answer your questions about plan benefits, costs and so much more. We can also help you avoid common mistakes when choosing a dental plan for your employees and get the best value from your plan.