Imagine if you shopped at Walmart and there was only one size of sweater, one variety of milk, or when you went to buy cereal, all it carried was Corn Flakes.And you grumbled to yourself that you would like some prices more in keeping with your family’s budget and needs.That is the approach taken, by and large, in Canadian employer benefits — including the dental plan. One size fits all. Too expensive for many (yes, your dental plan is paid for largely by you via lower pay.) Not just what you want or need.
Canadian dental benefits are largely designed by the insurers and the benefit consultants. And these benefits haven’t changed much since the 1970s.
Then imagine you had some choice in dental benefits — that you designed them, rather than some know-it-all benefit consultant you’ve never met. You could go on-line and pick out just the kind of dental plan and its cost your family needed. If you were a young worker without any cavities, your selection would likely differ from those older workers who started to have decay and crowns and who are looking for more aggressive prevention of dental diseases.
Well, don’t imagine much longer. New American benefit consulting firms are starting to offer choice and budgeting to American workers like never seen before. Startups likeHixme (slogan = “Better benefits, happier me”) are using the power of the internet and Big Data to empower the worker to pay for what they want and need.
What does this mean to the traditional group dental plan in Canada? First, to the low risk worker, it means savings. Low risk workers have been subsidizing the high risk workers for many years. And for the high risk workers? More prevention … because who would pay for crown after crown without thinking they want to get fewer crowns?
For more, please visit: http://partnersinprevention.ca/the-next-approach-to-dental-benefits/.
By: Ross Perry
SOURCED: Partners In Prevention – www.partnersinprevention.ca
