How To Find Group Dental Insurance

The cost of dental care keeps rising. More and more employers are choosing not to offer dental coverage as part of their benefits package. Buying an individual plan isn’t always affordable.

If this is a familiar frustration for you, think about becoming part of a group dental insurance policy.

What Is Group Dental Insurance?

Group dental insurance covers a group of people under one master policy. The people covered under a group policy have some sort of official relationship. Group insurance is usually purchased by professional associations, by labor unions, or by fraternal organizations.

Group dental insurance offers a great way to save money because it lets people pool their purchasing power to acquire one master policy. When participating in a group dental policy, you can expect to get the same coverage you would get in an individual policy. You can also expect to pay quite a bit less than you would with an individual policy.

What To Consider When Buying Group Dental Insurance

Many factors need to be considered when purchasing group dental insurance. Before you decide on a policy, think about:

• The size of your organization. The more people involved in the purchase of a group policy, the better the coverage and savings everyone will receive.
• Amount of coverage your organization requires. Within any organization, people will have different dental needs. The group policy should accommodate these different needs, but also remain affordable for the organization’s members.
• Type of plan. Most dental plans can be classified as Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans or Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) plans. A PPO plan offers greater savings as an incentive to use the services of dentists within its network. An EPO plan will not cover any charges if the policyholder uses a dentist outside their network. There are also Open Panel plans, which allow the policyholder to choose any dentist.
• Network of providers. Since most plans are either PPO or EPO, it makes good sense to choose a plan with an extensive network of providers. This allows for the policyholders to find a dentist that is convenient for them, and keeps costs down. If you already have a dentist you wish to continue seeing, ask if they belong to any group insurance networks.

Where Do You Find Group Dental Insurance?

When looking for a group dental insurance policy, the best place to start is on the web. There are many online services that allow you to compare policies and get competitive quotes from different insurance agents.

It also doesn’t hurt to look around in your community. Your local agent may be able to offer you a better deal than you can find online, particularly if you already have other quotes in hand.

If you’re buying the policy for a fraternal or membership-based organization, find out if there are members who are insurance agents. Even if your local chapter doesn’t have an agent in its ranks, you may find one in a nearby chapter. If you can find someone who fits this description, you may get a better quote than you expected.

Group dental insurance is a good way for people to save money and get coverage. By pooling your resources, you can get a better price on insurance than you could get individually. To find the best policy, look online, do some research, and ask your neighbors. The policy you need might be closer than you think.