How much is dental insurance?

It's essential to recognize the value of offering dental insurance to your employees. Following health benefits, it's the most desired employee benefit you can offer. According to our 2024 Employee Benefits Survey, 91% of employees rated dental insurance as important.

As a key component of a comprehensive benefits package, dental insurance contributes to the long-term health and happiness of your team members. But can you afford to offer it?

In this article, we'll look at the cost of dental coverage and how you can offer it to your employees.

In this blog post, you’ll learn:

• How dental insurance helps cover costly dental procedures, ranging from preventive services like routine dental cleanings to major services like tooth extractions.
• How the cost of dental insurance premiums can vary depending on the level of coverage and plan type.
• The options employers have when it comes to offering dental plans—including adding it to their group health plans leveraging a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA).

How much does dental insurance cost?

From routine cleanings to simple extractions, dental care tends to be a bit pricey. Thankfully, dental insurance helps cover some of the out-of-pocket costs for your employees. If you're in the market for a dental insurance plan, coverage ranges from preventive-only plans to ones that help with major procedures like dentures and implants.

Based on Investopedia's research¹ of 17 dental insurance companies, the average cost of monthly premiums can vary between $7 and $87. Basic preventive care plans are cheaper, and dental insurance policies with comprehensive coverage are more costly. Similar to health insurance premiums, you can share the cost of dental insurance premiums with your employees.

Employers can always get supplement dental plans to complement their primary plans. A secondary plan can help cover out-of-pocket expenses that your primary plan may not pay for or fully cover.

Is dental care covered by a group health plan?

Group coverage for health, dental, and vision care are separate. If you want to offer comprehensive coverage to your employees, you need to offer a group health insurance plan, a group dental plan, and a group vision insurance plan. This means having three different insurance plans (all with their own individual costs) potentially from three different insurance providers in your benefits package.

What are the different types of dental insurance plans?

The cost of dental insurance for your employees depends on several factors, such as the plan type, the level of coverage, and the number of employees covered. When considering the cost of dental care for your employees, it's important to understand the different types of dental plans available.

Some common types of dental insurance plans include:

• Dental preferred provider organization (DPPO) plans: These plans have several network dentists from which employees can choose. DPPO plans offer comprehensive coverage for in-network dental services and limited coverage for out-of-network dental services. Typically, they include a deductible and coinsurance and don't require referrals.
• Dental health maintenance organization (DHMO) plans: This type of plan requires employees to choose a primary dentist from a network of dentists. Employees will need a referral from their primary dentist to see a specialist. DHMO plans often have lower premiums than DPPO plans. DHMOs typically don't have annual maximums, deductibles, or waiting periods. However, with a DHMO, you need to see a primary dentist, get referrals to specialists, and pay a copay for each office visit.
• Dental indemnity plans: This type of policy allows employees to visit any provider they wish, and the plan reimburses dentists for dental treatment costs.
• Dental savings plan: Dental savings plans, also known as dental discount plans, are another option for employers who want to offer supplemental dental insurance to their employees. These plans provide reduced rates for dental treatments at participating dentists, making it easier for employees to access necessary care.

It's important to shop around and compare quotes from different dental insurance companies to find the best coverage at the most affordable price for your employees. Additionally, you may be able to negotiate lower rates by partnering with a dental insurance broker or by offering a wellness program that promotes preventive care through good oral health habits among your employees.

What are your other options for dental coverage?

If you're worried about the cost of offering a separate group health insurance plan and a dental plan, you can save money by offering a single health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) instead.

Stand-alone HRAs offer huge savings for employers since you reimburse your employees for their insurance coverage instead of buying it for them. You can reimburse them for their individual health, dental, and vision insurance premiums, along with more than 200 other types of eligible expenses. This makes your life easier since you don't have to purchase several different group plans for your workforce. Plus, you don't have to worry about participation requirements or annual rate hikes with an HRA.

Here's a quick breakdown of how an HRA works:

• You set a monthly allowance for your employees.
• Your employees use their allowance on medical expenses and individual plans for insurance coverage.
• After your employees incur an eligible expense, they submit proof of their purchase to you for reimbursement.
• Once you or an HRA administrator approve the eligible expense, you reimburse your employees up to their allowance amounts.

If you're worried about trying something new, PeopleKeep can help. We simplify HRA administration by reviewing employee expenses, offering customer support, and preparing plan documents to ensure compliance and privacy.

HRA comparison chart

There's an HRA that works for every employer's size and budget. The chart below compares three of the most common HRAs: the qualified small employer HRA (QSEHRA), the individual coverage HRA (ICHRA), and the group coverage HRA (GCHRA), also known as an integrated HRA.

Conclusion

Providing dental insurance coverage for your employees can be a valuable investment in their health and well-being, as well as a competitive benefit that can help attract and retain top talent. You can work with a dental insurer to secure an additional group plan for your employees, or you can streamline the process by offering an HRA. With an HRA, you can reimburse your employees for their individual dental insurance premiums instead of buying the coverage for them.

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