A Healthy Mouth Saves Money

The price of medical care for U.S. consumers grew by 3.3% from June 2023 to June 2024, outpacing the 3.0% overall annual inflation rate, according to analysis of federal data by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

Rising medical costs pressure employers to better manage their employee benefits budgets. While dental benefits are part of the core healthcare package, employers and employees may not realize they are key to lowering overall health expenses.

“Dental plans help encourage the right types of behaviors that can have a significant impact on lowering overall health spending,” says Kelly Wieseler, executive vice president–group division at Ameritas. “Building a customized dental program fit to employers’ and employees’ needs is critical to maximizing benefit dollars.”

Endangering Dental Benefits

Without understanding the true financial value of dental benefits, employers may seek to maintain affordability by reducing benefit levels or increasing employees’ deductibles or premium costs.

Employees may opt out of dental benefits to save money. Even employees who maintain those benefits may skip regular dental visits to cut costs. This leads to unused benefits, unhealthy employees, and employer-backed dollars not being used.

Dental Benefits’ Impact on Health Costs

Oral health influences overall health. Dentists can detect signs of conditions such as diabetes and heart disease during routine exams. Employees who neglect these preventive visits could experience not only serious health problems but higher overall costs if issues aren’t caught early.

“We’ve seen that keeping a strong dental benefit program in place encourages preventive care visits,” Wieseler says. “And we’re looking at data that shows access to dental insurance and preventive care not only improves overall health, it actually impacts health care costs.”

An Artemis Health survey adds more context on how much members can benefit. Medical spending data from 2022 across 18 employers comprising approximately 2 million health-plan members concluded that:

• Total yearly medical spending for diabetic members with dental insurance was up to $2,745 less for those who obtained at least two dental cleanings that year; and
• For members with coronary artery disease who had dental insurance, yearly medical spending was up to $11,186 less for those who obtained at least two dental cleanings.

Partnering with Clients

Review your clients’ business goals and benefits budgets—and their employees’ health needs—regularly to ensure dental plans are designed for the best health and financial outcomes.

Here’s how you can help clients mitigate the effects of inflation:

• Adjust plan design: Look at plan reports to see how often specific procedures are used and how they contribute to claims; adjustments to benefit levels can help manage premium and out-of-pocket costs.
• Focus on preventive care: Consider dental plans with preventive-focused coverage to reduce long-term claims and costs.
• Select annual maximums based on needs: Tailor dental plan maximums to employees’ needs rather than paying for a larger plan maximum that may not be necessary.
• Build communication strategies: Focus on customized implementation and employee education strategies to help clients understand and use their benefits to get the most value from their plans.

“Doing a comprehensive review of how a dental plan is working for employees is a critical step in the process of maximizing benefit dollars,” Wieseler says. “Keeping the plan relevant to employees’ needs means they’re more likely to use their benefits. And when they do that, both employers and employees see increased cost savings over time. That makes dental a key component to the success of the entire benefits package.”