Dental benefits: increase the value of your employee benefit package.

• Position: How-To GUIDE

A competitive benefit package plays a key role in retaining and recruiting talented employees. In a time when many employers have been faced with finding creative ways to manage benefits and still make a profit, offering dental benefits is the best option. Business owners can increase employee satisfaction while stretching their benefit package value for little or no cost.

Traditionally, dental benefits are modeled very differently than medical benefits. Premium costs are drastically lower because dental is a prevention-oriented industry, while medical attention is largely sought after symptoms arise or a catastrophic event occurs.

According to a Towers Watson research brief, findings from the 15th Annual National Business Group on Health state that in 2010, 83 percent of companies have already revamped or expect to revamp their health care strategy, up from 59 percent in 2009. By offering group access to dental care, employers can reap the rewards of greater employee satisfaction while maintaining low to no out-of-pocket costs.

How to Choose the Best Dental Plan for your Company

When looking for the best dental insurance plan to offer your employees, you should consider the type and flexibility of the plan you want to offer, network provider availability and the out-of-pocket costs for both your company and the employees.

Employer Options

Contributory: With employer-paid plans, you can choose to pay all or a percentage of the employees' premiums depending on what your budget allows.

Voluntary: Voluntary plans allow you to offer dental benefits at no cost to the company. The premiums are paid by those employees who elect coverage.

Plan Options

Discount: This option is a fee-for-service plan that offers a range of discounts for all levels of treatment including orthodontics.

Co-Pay: This type of plan is the most cost-effective for the employer because it offers lower premiums based on a middle-sized network. Co-pay plans offer the employee the best value because there is a set schedule of negotiated provider fees for each service. Out-of-pocket costs are easy to determine prior to treatment.

Co-Insurance: Co-insurance plans offer greater flexibility for both the employer and the employee with larger in- and out-of-network coverage. Co-insurance plans typically have slightly higher premiums but may also offer specialist and orthodontic benefits. Employees will pay a percentage of the negotiated provider fees based on the plan design.

Dual...