There’s a lot of confusion around what insurance is and isn’t necessary in the United States. This comes as no surprise since the insurance landscape is a complicated place, especially for businesses. If you’re a business owner, you’ve probably found yourself asking about health insurance coverage. Do you need to offer plans for your employees? What about supplemental plans?
One of the most confusing elements of business health insurance plans is supplemental plans like dental and vision. It’s often surprising to learn that dental and vision plans aren’t included under traditional health insurance. These are considered “extras” so you might not know if you should offer these types of coverage options for your employees. In this guide, we’ll answer this question once and for all.
What Coverage Do Businesses Need for Employees?
First, let’s discuss the exact coverage businesses actually need to have for employees according to the latest regulations. If you have over 50 full-time employees, you’re required to provide health insurance under the employer mandate. This health insurance has to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s minimum requirements.
In these minimum requirements, it’s not necessary for your policy to offer coverage for dental and vision insurance for those over 18. So when asking if you need to provide this type of coverage to your employees, the answer is no. However, there are a lot of benefits to offering these plans to your employees which we’ll explore below.
What is the Cost of Dental and Vision Insurance?
When it comes to insurance, we all usually assume it’s expensive. While this is true for traditional health insurance, it’s not true of “extra” coverage like dental and vision plans. First, let’s consider the cost of not having insurance. Paying out of pocket for a simple dental cleaning, for example, could run you over $100, and that’s without needing any extra care.
On the other hand, dental and vision insurance usually runs at around $10 – 20 a month depending on coverage. That’s a low premium both for employees and employers. The employer doesn’t have to cover this premium, but it can be a nice, inexpensive perk to include it in your insurance offerings. Click here to learn about dental plans that might be right for you.
Why Should Your Business Provide Dental and Vision?
Last but not least, why should your business worry about providing dental and vision coverage? It’s an extra expense, and you might already need to cover the cost of traditional health insurance. That being said, it’s well worth the minor extra expense to add additional health insurance coverage in the form of supplemental benefits.
While the reasons to include this insurance in your offering are endless, here are a few of the top reasons:
- Attract Talent – First, you’ll have a new way to attract top talent. Employees today care more about these extra benefits than ever before. Health insurance and supplement plans are expensive on your own, so having an employer include these is a big draw.
- Retain Talent – Similarly, you’ll show your current employees that you care about their health and value their work. It’s always smart to retain your best employees.
- Stand Out – Another important reason is that this will help you stand out from other businesses in your industry. If you’re a small business, you’ll really show you’re different from the competition.
- Healthier Employees – Finally, healthy employees are more productive. When employees don’t have to worry about paying for dental and vision out-of-pocket, they’re much more likely to keep up with their health.
Office Dental and Vision Plans Today
As you can see, there are more than enough reasons to consider offering dental and vision plans for your own business. Choosing to put your employees first always pays off. Not only will you retain the top talent you have, but you’ll attract other leading employees to your company.
Providing dental and vision insurance is an easy thing to do. It’s less expensive than you think, and it pays off big time. It’s time to offer the right coverage when it matters most.
