The time to sell ancillary benefits is now. The demand for dental and vision benefits has grown every year. Many employers are choosing not to bundle medical and dental. So, it presents a wonderful opportunity for you. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are placing greater importance on having the right benefits in place for themselves and their families.

Key trends in employer paid and voluntary benefits:

• 7 out of 10 employees say dental insurance is a must-have.
• To help manage their overall health, people are paying more attention to their oral and vision health.
• The demand for vision insurance has grown each year since 2018.
• DPPO plans are on the rise with providers who accept them.
• DHMO plans offer attractive rates to companies and employees.
• Your brokerage will benefit from offering different plan configurations.

By getting appointed for dental insurance and vision benefits you are putting yourself in a prime position for success. The focus on dental and vision benefits is good for you and your clients. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. These benefits also help lower costs on all sides. To further illustrate the point, you can educate your clients on the connection between oral health and overall health. Luckily many employers are looking for an ancillary benefits carrier who will coordinate with their medical or wellness vendors. It encourages better overall health outcomes.

Flexible plan design is favorable:
Dental and vision benefit plan designs have gone unchanged for decades. However, there are some flexible plan options being offered by carriers. This is worth exploring, so you can tailor to your current clients and to those you want to appeal to. Here are some plan features that clients are looking to offer their employees:

• In-network only plans (no out-of-network costs)
• Small business dental plans
• Telehealth benefits
• Rollover of annual maximums
• Preventive and diagnostic benefits – teeth cleaning, eye exams
• Discounted pricing – eyeglasses, contact lenses, LASIK eye correction.
• Rewards for employees getting routine dental and vision care during the year.

You will have clients who want to tighten up spending. There will also be clients seeking to boost their dental and vision offerings. Having dental and vision plans available with multiple configurations will encourage clients to use your services.

Consumers are becoming more educated about benefits, which saves money:
This bodes well for clients who want to save on costly dental or vision bills. They may be concerned about additional benefit costs in their budget. It has been said that people with dental benefits are twice as likely to go to the dentist. If people have the resources to take care of their oral health, they will.

It also positively impacts your clients if their employees are actively managing their vision care. Enhanced screen time is known to have a detrimental effect on employee productivity. Eye problems can form as a result and then there are effects like headaches, fatigue, and focus issues. Employers can save on costs associated with absenteeism, lost productivity, and medical bills.

Here are some of the key focuses of consumers with dental and vision insurance:

• Annual maximums: Employees have made it a priority to understand their plan benefits. This results in only about one percent hitting their annual-maximum benefit. Typically, this ranges between five and seven percent.
• Out-of-Network benefits: There is an increased focus on directing consumers to in-network dentists. Many plan members are choosing to utilize in-network benefits. As a result, the industry has seen the lowest utilization of out-of-network benefits under dental PPO plans.

If you have tools and resources to educate your clients on how to use their benefits that will reflect positively on your brokerage.

DPPO plans are becoming more desired:
Dental Preferred provider organization (DPPO) plans make up more than 80 percent of the dental insurance market, according to NADP. While the average dentist is said to participate in around six dental benefit plans, DPPOs are becoming more favored.

The other type of dental insurance is Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO) plans. For clients on a budget, these plans can be more affordable because they require the member to see in-network dentists to be covered. In comparison, DPPO plans allow both in-network and out-of-network visits. Those costs may fluctuate if employees are not paying attention to the network status of their provider.

Having both DPPO and DHMO options will ensure you can cast a wider net when meeting with clients.

Vision insurance is growing:
Based on demand, the vision insurance industry has grown by 1.4% on average each year since 2018. Studies show that most employees would stay with a company that offers high-quality vision benefits. Access to these benefits is also a key factor for job candidates.

Whether your clients have existing vision benefits or are now opting in, it is worth promoting the importance of using their benefits. Vision insurance goes underutilized by many employees due to lack of awareness. You can also talk to clients with vision plans about enhancing the packages they already offer with little additional cost. They may need help aligning their benefit offerings more with the needs of their employees.

There has never been a better time to get appointed for dental insurance and vision benefits. We hope this information can inspire different approaches or enhance what you are already doing in this part of your business.