Dental and vision for a small business: paid by you, shared, or voluntary

Dental and vision are the benefits a small business can most often afford to start with, and you don't need a group health plan to offer them. Most dental and vision carriers will write a plan for a business with as few as two people enrolled, as long as the business pays toward it.

That last part is the decision that matters. There are three ways to pay, and each one changes how many people need to sign up and what the plan can cover.

Paid by you

The business pays the whole premium, and everyone eligible is covered unless they turn it down. Carriers like this arrangement because nearly everybody enrolls, including the people who rarely see a dentist, and that's why the enrollment minimums are lowest here. Two enrolled people is a common floor.

It's also the easiest benefit to explain to a new hire. There's nothing to decide and nothing taken out of a paycheck.

What you pay for that is the full premium for every employee, including the ones who'd never have bought it themselves.

Shared

The business pays part, the employee pays the rest, and each employee decides whether to join. This is the usual middle ground, and most carriers still write it for a small group.

How much you have to pay toward it depends on the carrier. Some set no minimum at all, and others want the business to cover up to half of each employee's premium. Because enrolling is a choice, carriers also expect a larger share of your eligible people to sign up than they do when you pay all of it.

Voluntary

The employee pays the whole premium through payroll, and the business sets it up and handles the deductions. It costs the business nothing in premium, and it gives your people a group plan they couldn't buy on their own at the same terms.

The catch is size. Because only the people who expect to use it tend to sign up, carriers usually want more of them before they'll write a voluntary plan, commonly somewhere between four and ten enrolled. A business of five with three interested people may not get there.

Before you choose a dental plan, ask whether it has a waiting period before bigger work like crowns is covered. An employee who joins for a specific treatment may find it isn't covered yet.

Dental without medical, and medical without dental

These are separate plans, usually from separate carriers, and you can offer one without the other. Plenty of small businesses start with dental and vision because the premiums are a small fraction of a health plan's, then add medical when they can.

You can also mix the approaches: pay for dental in full and offer vision as voluntary, for example.

Taxes, in one paragraph

Premiums the business pays for employee dental and vision are a business expense and aren't taxable income to the employee. When employees pay their share, it can come out of their paychecks before tax if you have a simple written premium-only plan in place. Your payroll provider or accountant can set that up, so ask them before the first deduction, not after.

Where we come in

We can quote dental and vision from several carriers at once, tell you which ones will write your group at its size and with the share you want to pay, and show you what the same plan would cost paid in full, shared, or voluntary. Our dental and vision page has more on how these plans are built.

Tell us about your business and mention dental and vision. We'll come back with what's available for a group your size.