Insurance Bundles
Health insurance usually does not pay for dental and vision work (“My health insurance does not cover dental and vision”). Also, while businesses must have group health insurance policies if they employ at least 50 people due to the Affordable Care Act, they do not have to provide vision and dental insurance (“A Guide to Vision and Dental Insurance”). Bundling insurance plans provide affordable options to employers and other people, but bundles contain their flaws.
Insurance bundles provide benefits in addition to coverage for different types of treatments and services from one insurance company. For example, grouping medical and dental insurance policies into bundles may be cheaper for employers (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012). Bundles that contain dental and vision insurance could give the insured lower premiums, which could be “guaranteed for 24 months – instead of the traditional 12 months” (“Dental and Vision Insurance – What Do You Get by Grouping Them Together?”). The bundle could also contain additional benefits, such as coverage for orthodontics (“Dental and Vision Insurance – What Do You Get by Grouping Them Together?”). Though, their bundle should contain dental and vision insurance that greatly help the consumer (“Dental and Vision Insurance – What Do You Get by Grouping Them Together?”).
Despite these benefits, particularly, insurance bundles of medical and dental plans contain their flaws. Although the insured can receive dental coverage in addition to medical coverage, ultimately, “[the] carrier decides the specific plans for each line of coverage that is bundled together” (“What are bundled insurance plans?” 2017). Meaning, the insurance company could still include limitations, exclusions, restrictions, etc. into its dental insurance policies (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012). Although the bundles may seem cheap to employers at first, “Some carriers may increase the price of the dental insurance to help offset the discount given for medical insurance” as well as increase the premiums when employers renew the bundled plan in order “to recoup its losses” (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012). Also, medical insurance companies may not be able to properly process dental claims, causing many mistakes, unlike “[dedicated] dental carriers [who] have processing systems designed to handle dental claims specifically, resulting in more efficient and accurate payments” (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012). Alternatively, medical insurance companies “may choose to subcontract the work to dental carriers in order to provide efficient claims processing services. But this decision may add another layer of administrative costs” (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012). Additionally, employers that must change one of their policies in the bundle, such as the dental policy, to another policy might not be able to keep the low premiums of their insurance bundle (“The Pros and Cons of Bundling Dental with Medical Plans” 2012).
Insurance bundles may prove useful to employers and other people based on their benefits. However, they should be aware of their flaws and long-term costs.
0 Comments