A dental practice's guide to health benefits

Your dental team spends every day helping patients prioritize their oral health. Offering health benefits is another way to show your team that you care about their well-being, too.

Traditional group health insurance: Familiar, but not always the right fit

Traditional group health insurance is one of the most common employee health benefits. With a fully-insured group health plan, a dental practice selects a health insurance policy and contributes toward employees’ monthly premiums. Employees then enroll in the plan or plans offered by their employer. There are also self-funded group plans, where the employer or a third-party administrator pays out employee claims directly.

Common types of group health plans include:

• Preferred provider organization plans (PPOs)
• Health maintenance organization plans (HMOs)
• Exclusive provider organization plans (EPOs)
• Point-of-service plans (POSs)

To complement a group health plan, some practices may also offer additional benefits such as:

• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Health savings accounts (HSAs)
• Flexible spending accounts (FSAs)

Dental practices can purchase fully insured group coverage through an insurance company, broker, or the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace, if eligible.

While group health insurance can provide comprehensive coverage, it may not work for every dental practice. Plans can come with fixed designs, minimum participation requirements, limited employee choice, and annual rate increases. According to KFF's 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored coverage was $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage³.

Some employers choose to self-fund their group health plans instead of purchasing fully insured coverage. With a self-funded plan, the employer takes on direct financial responsibility for employees' healthcare claims, typically working with a third-party administrator (TPA) to manage the plan.

Self-funding can give employers more control over how their health benefits are designed and funded. However, it also means taking on greater financial risk when claims are higher than expected.

Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs): A flexible way to support your dental team

Stand-alone HRAs offer dental practices another way to provide health benefits while maintaining cost control. With an HRA, employers set a monthly allowance that employees can use toward eligible healthcare expenses, including individual health insurance premiums.

Additional HRA-eligible expenses include:

• Monthly premiums for individual vision and dental plans
• Dental services
• Vision services
• Preventive services
• Prescription drugs
• Over-the-counter medication

Unlike traditional group health insurance, HRAs allow employees to choose coverage that fits their individual needs rather than limiting everyone to an employer-selected plan.

Depending on your practice’s size and existing benefits, different types of HRAs may be a good fit.

Individual coverage HRA (ICHRA)

An individual coverage HRA (ICHRA) is a flexible health benefit for dental practices of all sizes. With an ICHRA, employers provide a defined monthly allowance that employees can use toward individual health insurance premiums and other eligible expenses.

ICHRA offers:

• No annual contribution limits. You choose how much to offer to your employees
• Employee choice among individual health plans
• Customizable employee classes
• Flexibility to set different contribution amounts for different eligible employee groups
• A potential alternative to traditional group health insurance

If your dental practice has 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), an ICHRA can also help satisfy the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate when designed to meet applicable affordability requirements, and employees have qualifying individual coverage.

Qualified small employer HRA (QSEHRA)

A qualified small employer HRA (QSEHRA) is only for small employers with fewer than 50 FTEs that don’t offer a group health plan.

With a QSEHRA, you set an annual allowance up to the IRS-defined contribution limits. Employees can use their allowance for eligible healthcare expenses, including individual health insurance premiums.

QSEHRA can be a good option for smaller dental practices looking to offer a health benefit for the first time without taking on a traditional group plan.

Employees must have qualifying minimum essential coverage (MEC), such as their own individual plan or coverage through a spouse’s or parent’s group plan, to participate in QSEHRA benefits.