Group Dental insurance is usually offered through one of three plan designs. Which one makes sense for your credit union depends on many factors. At Members Insurance Agency, we’ll take a look at each plan design and help you select the best fit.
The Plans
The Network Approach: Two of the largest providers of the “network approach” are Delta Dental and BlueCross. Both of these providers have vast networks of dentists that participate.
Indemnity Approach: This approach offers the advantage of freedom-of-choice. Employees can go to any dentist and get services. However, employees may incur balance billing with the indemnity approach.
Both the Network Approach and the Indemnity Approach offer plans where the level of benefit is dictated by the type of dental service provided. Certain services usually require the payment of a deductible and coinsurance. Plans are subject to a calendar year maximum amount of benefit that is available to each participant in the plan.
Direct Reimbursement Plans:
According the American Dental Association (ADA) web site, DR plans are the best way for an employer to fund dental benefits. At Members Insurance Agency, we call DR plans by a different name… Money Purchase Plans. These plans offer unlimited flexibility in the design of the plan, pay benefits based upon the amount of the expense (not based upon the type of service provided) and provide 100% freedom-of-choice of dentists.
