Are you looking around for group health insurance for your small dental practice? Although it may be harder for small businesses like yours to provide benefits to all of its employees, it’s not impossible.

There are plenty of ways to control your benefits costs without leaving your small dental practice employees completely without health insurance and other benefits.

Learn more about the benefits of offering health insurance, how group insurance plans work, and what costs to consider. You can also use the links below to find answers to your most pressing questions.

How can getting health insurance help your small dental practice?

Besides the clear benefit (getting quality health insurance for you and your employees), group health insurance can help your business in so many other ways.

• Your employees will be more likely to stay healthy. Sick days, major illnesses, and financial ruin from unexpected medical costs; you could help protect your employees from all of these risks by offering a group health insurance plan for them to enroll in. And by avoiding all these health-related issues, you may find that your small dental practice benefits from healthier employees who need fewer sick days. Running a dependable, healthy small dental practice requires a team of dependable, healthy employees.
• Know your employees are taken care of. As a small dental practice, you don’t want sickly assistants or hygienists working on your patients. By getting quality group health insurance, you can rest assured that they will be taken care of with the benefits included in whichever group plan you decide to enroll in.
• You can use a broker like eHealth to make the process simple. By using an online broker like eHealth, you’ll be treated to a simple, online process that clearly shows you the benefits and prices of each plan. You will instantly have access to free quotes, and you won’t have to deal with an insurance company since we serve as the middleman for no extra cost to you. Why waste your time hunting for the right plan for your trusted employees when you should be focused on providing the best dental care that you can

What are group health insurance plans?

A group health insurance plan is an insurance policy that provides coverage to your eligible employees. You can offer your staff one plan or a selection of plans (often referred to as a “cafeteria” plan). Smaller employers generally have fewer choices, which are of higher cost, than larger employers. 

In any case, the premiums for group coverage are often notably lower than those paid for an individual policy or plan purchased in the open market.

What would a group health insurance plan look like for a small dental practice?

Small business health insurance (or group health insurance) works a lot like group plans for larger companies. The owner offers either one plan or a few options for plans, employees join the group, and everyone is covered under one policy.

With group health insurance plans, premiums are often significantly lower per individual. This is in part due to the risk being spread across a group rather than one individual and also because the employer usually splits the premium with his or her employees.

There are also some benefits that may be available to you as the employer. The employer is often required to contribute up to 50% of each employee’s premium, or more, depending on where you live. You may be able to qualify for a tax credit to help you pay for your share of the employees’ premiums.

Want to learn more about group insurance? Read our complete guide to small business insurance.

Is your small dental practice required to provide health insurance?

You may already know that, under current law, most businesses with less than 50 employees are not required to offer health insurance. Keep in mind that group and employee definitions vary by insurance company and state, so be sure to check with a licensed insurance agent to find out the details for your specific situation.

Although you may not be required to offer health insurance, you should also take into account that refusing to offer benefits could affect the loyalty of your small dental practice employees, such as your office manager, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. Offering benefits is one huge aspect of retaining your important employees, who you wouldn’t be able to continue your practice without.

Even without taking how health-care benefits could affect loyalty and retention into account, you know how important health-care benefits are more than most. As someone who works in the healthcare field, you probably understand how important it is for people to have access to quality healthcare practitioners and facilities. 

Opting out of a group health insurance plan leaves your employees at risk for large medical bills and does not show good healthcare practices. With the assistance of quality health insurance that helps cover the costs of office visits and check-ups, your employees might be more prone to making preventative care visits to practitioners like primary care doctors, OB/GYNs, optometrists, and dentists.

How to get health insurance for dental practices

Several options are available for you to obtain a plan for your practice. You or your administrative staff can survey what’s available to you in the marketplace. The health insurance marketplace is where you can shop for plans that might be available, affordable, and appropriate for your dental practice insurance. However, this arena can be challenging for inexperienced shoppers.

On the other hand, eHealth offers tools and resources to help you find a plan. Experienced and knowledgeable in the marketplace, one of our licensed insurance agents can help advise you when looking for group health insurance plans for your dental practice. We also have a tool that allows you to find available plans in your area and compare features. 

There are several benefits of using eHealth to find health insurance for your dental practice:

• Easily compare plans
• Obtain free quotes quickly
• Avoid dealing with pushy insurance salespersons
• Save your time

How many employees do you need to get health insurance for your dental practice?

Under current law, most employers with 50 or more qualified employees must provide health insurance coverage. Employers with a smaller staff may offer insurance plans if they wish.

How much does health insurance for a dental practice cost?

Health insurance cost for dental practices depends on several factors, including:

• How big is your group? Because the odds of certain claims occurring among specific groups of people, the size of your group significantly impact premiums. With a smaller group, premiums will likely be higher because there are fewer people taking on those costs and dividing risk of insurance claims. 
• How old is your group? Certain kinds of claims occur more frequently among specific age groups. If, for example, you have a staff of 20, 15 of whom are women in their 20s, your odds of pregnancy-related claims are relatively high. On the other hand, if you have a staff primarily of men in their 60s, you’re looking at entirely different common health risks.
• What are you willing to spend? Offering health insurance is a competitive issue in the employment market. When filling any job is challenging, being able to say you offer a great health insurance plan is an added advantage to your recruiters. However, it comes at a cost. You should think about how much you’re willing to spend for that added level of competition. There are basic plans which may be on the lower end of the spectrum, and there are so-called platinum plans which offer low deductibles and high coverage options but are generally much more expensive for a small group. Where your practice will fall on this continuum is your economic decision.
• How will you shop for your plan? As mentioned above, buying group insurance can be challenging. There are a lot of plans and many issues to consider and resolve. Just like you are an expert in dental issues, there are expert insurance brokers with lots of experience navigating the complexities of the group health insurance marketplace. Their experience and knowledge of what is available to your group can translate to significant savings, better coverage, or both for your plan.

When considering costs, you should look at it from both a company expense perspective and an employee perspective to find something that serves both parties best. You want it to be affordable for them, or they aren’t going to be interested in this benefit. For reference, in 2021, the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance were $7,739 for single coverage and $22,221 for family coverage.

Find health insurance for your dental practice that fits your budget

While finding an affordable health insurance plan to meet your dental practice’s needs can seem impossible, using the marketplace options available to you can be vital to providing this benefit to your staff and practice. Take advantage of online research and leverage tools like eHealth to find the best plan available for your group insurance dollar and your dental practice. You can use our tool to search for plans offered in your location and compare their features. And, if you need additional help, our licensed insurance agents can be of assistance.