How dental and vision insurance strengthen any benefits portfolio

After major medical coverage, dental insurance and vision insurance are the most popular employer-sponsored benefits among employees. Despite this, dental services are the most common type of care that adults will delay due to cost, followed by vision services.¹

Statistically speaking, employees want these benefits but are still hesitant to seek dental and vision care due to the expense. These opposing views underscore the importance of offering affordable group dental and vision coverage to employees to break down the price barriers that prevent so many people from seeking care.

Let's explore how group dental and vision insurance can make any employer's benefits portfolio more robust and help empower employees to obtain the care they need.

Dental insurance

It's well known that poor health costs American companies billions of dollars every year as well as many hours of lost productivity. Dental health is often overlooked as one element of this, but it is certainly an important factor.

When employees are apprehensive about the cost (and pain) of visiting the dentist, they may delay care and end up with any number of preventable dental issues—cavities, infections, abscesses or even lost teeth. Dental coverage can help enrolled employees feel financially prepared for regular dental care, which will help to prevent dental emergencies and reduce time spent away from work.

Links have even been made between oral health and heart health. The American Heart Association says chronic gum inflammation may be associated with coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes, and other systemic conditions.²

According to the American Dental Association, regular exams and cleanings are important to maintain healthy teeth and gums. Dentists recommended visiting every six months for most people, or more often for those who have a higher risk for gum disease.³

Vision insurance

An estimated 93 million U.S. adults are at high risk for serious vision loss, but only half of them visited an eye doctor in the past year. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of adult Americans who avoided seeking eye care did so because of either the cost or a lack of awareness of the importance of regular eye exams.⁴

Employer-sponsored vision insurance can help in a couple ways. First, enrolled employees can feel more financially empowered to proactively pursue regular eye exams. Additionally, when an employee is paying premiums toward vision insurance, they are more likely to be aware of potential vision-related health problems. Think of it like health insurance: health outcomes are typically more favorable among insured individuals, and the same principle applies to vision coverage as well.

Awareness also extends to our daily activities. So many of them involve looking at screens—phones, tablets, eBooks, computers, TVs—that we often don't even realize it. There's a good chance you are looking at a screen right now!

No existing research has linked screen time to eye damage; however, many people experience eye strain, dry eyes, blurred vision and even headaches as a result of prolonged screen usage. When they are more aware of their eye health, people are more likely to take steps to prevent these eye issues by taking breaks and limiting screen time.

Dental and vision coverage for kids

While dental and vision care is important for adults, it is crucial to help our children get the right start in life as well. This is especially important when it comes to dental care. According to the CDC, tooth decay (which leads to cavities) is the most common chronic disease of childhood in U.S.⁵ Left untreated, cavities can cause pain and infections that may hinder eating, speaking and even learning at school.

Offering families access to dental insurance as well as vision coverage as part of a group benefits package can holistically help everyone in the household stay on top of their health.

Dental and vision insurance from Allstate Benefits

We are committed to providing a full spectrum of coverage to meet all the needs of employees and their families. This includes dental insurance and vision insurance, which we offer in partnership with Ameritas. Employees can select their dental plan of choice and choose the eye care network that works best for them.

Contact an Allstate Benefits Representative to learn more.

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