The History of Dental Insurance

Just as insurance companies play an increasingly significant role in the daily lives of Americans, dental insurance coverage has become a common supplement to general health insurance, offering more options for maintaining dental health. The evolution of dental insurance derived its origins from general health coverage individual and group plans as a way to provide low-cost managed care to subscribers and, hopefully, to promote dentistry and dental health for a wider population.

Pre-Insurance Dental Care

• Dental health is a relatively modern concept. In the United States, dentistry was once afforded to the wealthy or performed under emergency situations. Dentistry itself was a specialized medical profession that had little prominence compared to the saturation of dental offices today. Overall improvements in hygiene and increasing importance placed on preventative health care helped dental health become seen as essential health care for most American families.

Health Insurance Becomes Commonplace

• When teachers at Baylor University grouped together to form the first modern health insurance group plan in 1929, hospitals soon realized that providing prepaid health insurance coverage could more effectively fill beds. Health insurance companies soon formed with the goal of providing managed care, spreading out their indemnity risk over a large selection of subscribers, enabling people who would not otherwise seek medical care to receive routine and emergency treatment. As dental care became seen as essential to overall health, the first dental insurance plans sprouted up in the 1970s. Before this, most health insurance coverage did not include routine dental procedures. Many group policies now offer separate dental coverage, often from a different provider.

Indemnity Dental Plans

• Managing care for dental patients allowed the dental profession to thrive initially, offering indemnity (coverage) for subscribers to obtain more than merely routine check-ups. Generally, plans require a co-pay and a fairly low deductible that does not cover major procedures past a maximum amount. Managed care for dental insurance means that in order to keep premiums at an affordable rate for a group of subscribers, coverage must be limited to routine procedures, corresponding with the needs of most dental patients.

Complexities and Controversies

• Providing managed care has caused certain problems for patients and dentists. The average maximum indemnity provided by most insurance carriers, according to the Dental Wellness Center, remains at $1,500 per year, an amount that has not increased since the 1970s. Inflation alone would have increased that amount to $10,000. This continually limits the amount of coverage provided by insurance plans and prevents dental offices from covering their increasing overhead costs. Dental insurance carriers generally provide in-network discounts that further discount dental care for approved providers. Although the goal is to increase business, both for the insurance company and the dentist, the level of care provided to the patient may inevitably decrease.

Dental Insurance Today and Tomorrow

• It is unlikely that Americans will cease to view dental health as an essential part of general health care; therefore, dental insurance companies will continue to thrive. This may cause premium costs to remain affordable, but the level of care may not see much improvement as history dictates. Future government sponsored health care will be unlikely to include much in way dental care beyond preventative procedures, and dentists will continue to attempt to balance providing exceptional care while controlling increasing costs.