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Join Date: Aug 2005
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Shaving nicks and toothaches hurt more than they should. While a nick will vanish in a couple of days, toothache will take your pocket for a spin before it goes away. Believe me, dental care is prohibitively expensive, but still a part of necessary health care and very important.
Here comes dental insurance. Not much in the past it was considered a big company perk, dental insurance has today established itself as a must-have benefit. Even most small companies offer dental insurance today to recruit and retain workers. Dental coverage costs less than 10% of total medical coverage so its affordable and preventive procedures, like cleanings, ensure the overall health of employees, which means a decrease in sick time and increase in productivity.
Various dental insurance plans with numerous variations are available today. You should take proper care and time to consider all options.
Most expensive plans:
Direct reimbursement plans
These plans are the most expensive of the lot. They operate by paying for employee dental coverage from a pool of money set aside by the company for this purpose.
The simplicity of this plan makes it the most effective, the reimbursement is made by a simple formula doing away with the complexity of co-payments, deductibles etc. Even though ADA strongly recommends this plan, this kind of direct dental care may not be affordable by smaller companies.
Least expensive plans:
Managed care plans
Similar to a medical HMO, managed care dental plans need to pay for the treatment through regular co-payments and choose forma pool of dentists to get treated. These plans do various cost-control measures and can more affordable for small businesses.
The co-payment amount varies according to procedure. Preventive procedures are usually performed without co-payment, however advanced procedures will bear higher co-payments.
The choice lies with the company and their financial managers, however great care is recommended in choosing the plan.
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