Vision and Dental Plans Almost Sell Themselves—Here's Why

As a benefits broker, one of your primary goals is to give your clients access to the products and services that will help them create the best possible benefit packages for their workers. Sometimes you have to engage in a hard sell. It comes with the territory. But other times, there are benefits options that virtually sell themselves. Vision and dental plans are in that category as employees are increasingly expecting these plans.

A client looking to enhance current benefits might contact you to ask what is on the table. That is an open invitation for you to discuss non-medical products, including vision and dental. Unlike your typical health plan, vision and dental does not tend to be nearly as complicated. That is a big selling point.

The chances are good that your clients will understand most vision and dental plans without much by way of in-depth explanation. The parameters are pretty simple. So are coverage terms, limits, premiums, etc. It all adds up to a couple of simple options that your clients can easily add to their benefit packages without a whole lot of fuss. But why would they do so?

Reasons to Offer a Vision Plan

Despite vision and dental plans almost selling themselves, employers know they have to sell them to workers as well. No worries. One of our carriers, VSP Direct, lays out all the benefits of individual vision plans on their website. Those benefits translate into viable reasons to offer your clients a vision plan:

• Reduce Vision Care Costs: A vision plan's primary purpose is to reduce the out-of-pocket costs people pay for eye exams, glasses, contacts, etc. That is exactly what employees are looking for when they make their benefits choices.
• Multifaceted Coverage: Vision plans come in all shapes and sizes. A multifaceted plan really appeals to employees because it covers eye exams, new frames and lenses, and more.
• Long-Term Care: A vision plan encourages workers to think about eye health in the long term. They will appreciate a plan that lets them be proactive about their vision.

There are more reasons to offer your clients vision plans, but you get the point. Let us move on to dental plans.

Reasons to Offer a Dental Plan

Another one of our carriers, Ameritas, offers four viable reasons your clients should be offering their employees a dental plan. Here they are:

• Increased Productivity: A dental plan encourages employees to pay more attention to oral health. In the long term, this increases productivity by reducing the number of hours lost to employee dental appointments.
• Financial Security: When employees do not seek dental care for lack of financial resources, a good dental plan can change things. It can increase financial security by reducing what workers pay for their care.
• Improved Health: Good dental health contributes to improved overall health. For that reason alone, your clients might be interested in affordable dental plans they can add to their benefit packages.
• Improve Child Health: An extension of improved worker health is better health for their children. A dental plan gives parents the opportunity to make sure their children's dental health is looked after.

As with vision plans, dental plans come in a variety of flavors. As a broker, you have the opportunity to compare all the plans our carriers offer in order to find those most suited to your clients' needs. Vision and dental plans would make a great addition to your clients' benefits packages. As you have an opportunity to speak to them about new offerings, ensure that vision and dental plans are on the table when you do.