Popular TV stars, who always seem to have white, perfect teeth, have also talked up the benefits of dental insurance. These teeth are the result of expensive dental care and the need for expensive group dental insurance plans from insurance companies, which are becoming less common by the day.
Group dental insurance plans are growing quickly in the employee benefit programmes niche market. A few years ago, dental insurance was just another part of employee benefits that didn't stand out. It was also easy to plan and put into action. Most plans used to cover all preventive care and cleaning, 80% of basic restoration, and 50% of major restoration, like crowns and bridges. Even though they were told to, many employees never went to the dentist. This kept the overall cost of insurance low and stable, unlike general health benefit plans, which went up every year. For a long time, dental insurance was just a simple add-on that big employers bought from big insurance companies.
In the last few years, there has been a rise in TV ads, and as the smiles got brighter on the idiot box, people realised how important it was to have whiter smiles and straighter teeth, and they became more interested in dental care. This caused premiums for dental insurance to go up at a rate of about 7–10% per year. This rate is a big deal, so big companies started to look at it more closely. This hurts the company's bottom line because employee benefits costs are going up because of this. About 10% of the total cost of employee benefits in a company today goes to dental insurance. So, the rise in premiums each year makes the total cost of employee benefits go up by 1 percent each year.
"Employers don't pay much attention yet, but they should because dental plans are changing," says Donald S. Mayes, an auditor and consultant for dental plans in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
As part of a job package, dental insurance plans have also become more popular. So, big companies can't get rid of these plans because they help them find and keep good employees. At the same time, they have to watch the costs go up. A decision about Catch-22 is coming up.
