DENTAL DISCOUNT PLANS: A GROWING TREND
Discount dental plans are non-insurance programs in which a panel of dentists agrees to provide their services to eligible members at pre-negotiated discounted fees or at a percentage off of their retail fees. Discounts typically range from 25-50 percent off of usual fees for the most common dental procedures (including exams, cleaning, fillings, crowns, etc.). And because discount plans aren't insurance, they cost much less and offer greater enrollment and coverage flexibility to both small employers and their employees.
The non-catastrophic and predictable nature of dental care has prompted several major benefit consultants to predict that discount plans are the future for ancillary health benefits. In 2005, Mercer and Watson Wyatt predicted that High Deductible Health Plans, which can integrate discount programs within a pre-tax savings vehicle (e.g., FSA, HRA, HSA), will be a more cost-effective way to provide employee dental benefits as medical costs continue to rise. Both consultants even went so far as to predict the end of dental insurance within the next ten years.
Echoes of the Health Allies survey, and a foreshadowing of the consultants' survey forecast regarding ancillary discount programs, could be heard when Medicare introduced its discount pharmacy program in 2004. And again, in 2005, when the federal government expanded their employee benefit choices to include voluntary dental discount plans. Dental discount plans, once perceived as exclusive to uninsured individuals, are becoming an integral part of our national benefits. And more and more small businesses are now discovering that the discount plans are not only more affordable than insurance, but they can also provide greater savings on more services for their employees.
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© 2007 Aspen Publishers, Inc. Jan 2007. Employee Benefit Plan Review 2007
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