Guide: Health insurance for dental offices

Dental offices play a crucial role in maintaining people's oral health and overall well-being. While dental professionals focus on their patients, it's equally important for dental office owners and staff to prioritize their own health and financial security. Providing comprehensive health insurance is a key way to ensure that everyone in the dental practice is taken care of. In this guide, we'll explore the essentials of health insurance for dental offices, covering its importance, considerations, and benefits for both the practice and its employees.

The Importance of Health Insurance for Dental Offices

Health insurance is not just a perk; it's a vital investment in the health and happiness of your dental office team. Here's why health insurance matters for dental offices:

1. Employee Satisfaction and Retention:

• Offering health insurance demonstrates your commitment to the well-being of your employees. Competitive benefits can attract top talent and enhance employee satisfaction, reducing turnover and the costs associated with hiring and training new staff.

2. Focus on Patient Care:

• When your dental office team has access to quality healthcare, they can maintain their own health and well-being. Healthy employees are better equipped to provide exceptional patient care without the distraction of personal health concerns.

3. Financial Security:

• Health insurance helps employees manage medical expenses, reducing the financial stress that can come with unexpected healthcare costs. This financial security can lead to increased peace of mind and productivity.

4. Positive Workplace Culture:

• Providing health insurance fosters a positive workplace culture where employees feel valued and supported. This, in turn, contributes to a harmonious and collaborative team environment.

Considerations When Choosing Health Insurance for Dental Offices

Selecting the right health insurance plan for your dental office requires careful consideration. Keep these factors in mind:

1. Comprehensive Coverage:

• Look for plans that cover a range of medical services, including preventive care, hospital stays, prescription medications, and mental health services.

2. Network of Providers:

• Choose a plan with a broad network of healthcare providers, hospitals, and specialists. This ensures that your team has access to the medical care they need.

3. Wellness Programs:

• Some health insurance plans offer wellness programs that encourage healthy behaviors through incentives, screenings, and educational resources.

4. Mental Health Coverage:

• Given the high-stress nature of dental work, prioritize plans that include mental health services and counseling options.

5. Cost Considerations:

• Assess the premium costs, deductibles, co-payments, and other out-of-pocket expenses associated with each plan. Balance these costs with the coverage provided.

6. Flexibility and Choice:

• Each staff member has their own unique needs. One size fits all doesn't fit here. Let them choose the best plan for them.

7. Employee Input:

• Consider conducting surveys or seeking input from your team to understand their health insurance needs and preferences. This can help you tailor the benefits package to better serve their needs.

Benefits of Providing Health Insurance for Dental Offices

Offering health insurance benefits your dental office in multiple ways:

1. Employee Recruitment and Retention:

• Competitive health insurance can attract skilled dental professionals and encourage current employees to stay with your practice for the long term.

2. Enhanced Productivity:

• When your team members have access to healthcare, they're more likely to maintain good health and attend work regularly, leading to increased productivity.

3. Reduced Absenteeism:

• Health insurance supports early detection and treatment of health issues, reducing the likelihood of extended absences due to illness.

4. Positive Reputation:

• Providing health insurance reflects positively on your dental practice, showing that you prioritize the well-being of your team.

5. Employee Peace of Mind:

• Health insurance offers peace of mind to your team members, allowing them to focus on their roles without worrying about medical expenses.

Prioritizing health insurance for your dental office team is an investment in their health, well-being, and overall job satisfaction.

HRAs, the better option

With only a few employees, dental offices have traditionally been unable to offer employees group health plans because of sky-high costs. The recent passage of the 21st Century Cures Act allows small businesses such as dental offices to offer employee benefits through an HRA (health reimbursement arrangement). It allows dental offices to reimburse employees for health insurance premiums and medical expenses tax-free. The best part? It's hands-off and easy. 

Affordable health insurance for dental offices

The most important thing about an HRA is that it allows small businesses such as dental offices to reimburse employees tax-free for individual health insurance premiums and medical expenses. This is a big deal because dental offices can now get the same favorable tax treatment as big company group health plans but with a lot less hassle.

It also enables dental offices to adopt a strategy called "defined contribution" which is much simpler than hassling with a one-size-fits all group plan and is proven to be much more efficient, affordable, and predictable. Dental offices can now give their employees a fixed dollar amount each month, say $200, and each employee can then shop for the plan that fits his or her needs the best. Pam can choose a Blue Cross plan for her doctor, Dwight can get Aetna to cover his prescription, and Angela can stay on her husband's  group plan. Gone are the days of comparing quotes from each insurance company or the headache of trying to get everyone what they want without breaking the budget! And employees end up happier too. 

Predictable costs

Defined contribution health benefits allow dental offices complete control over the costs of the health benefits, creating predictability with the health benefits budget. For example, with defined contribution health benefits:

• There are no minimum amounts to contribute (the dental office decides the amounts of the defined contribution allowances).
• Costs are not incurred until employees receive reimbursement 
• Pre-funding accounts are not required
• Unused funds stay with the dental office

Do you qualify for an HRA?

In order to participate, the following criteria need to be met.  

• Cannot be combined with a group health plan  
• Employees use the HRA to reimburse health insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket medical expenses tax-free. 
• Employees participating are required to have minimum essential coverage to receive HRA reimbursements.  
• Employees may access premium tax credits. However, if an employee is eligible for a premium tax credit, the amount of the credit will be reduced by the monthly HRA amount. 
• Generally, the dental office must make the same HRA contributions for all eligible employees. However, amounts may be varied based on family status or employment status such as full-time or part-time staff. 

Take Command is here to help

Does all of this sound complicated? Expensive? Here's some good news. With our help, this can be easy!  Our new QSEHRA platform will handle all the accounting and legal legwork for the small business HRA, take care of onboarding each of your employees, and make tax time easy and painless. You'll never have to hassle with receipts or worry about setting up a health plan again.