Insurance companies leading the way in preventative medicine

When people talk about health insurance, they are usually thinking about the type of coverage that provides protection in case of a medical emergency. For example, if one gets into a car accident and suffers facial damage that needs surgery, they want to know that there will be individual dental insurance plans available to cover such catastrophic injuries. The same is true with eye insurance – most people only think about it if they need glasses or must have corrective surgery.

However, a growing trend is for insurance companies to become active partners in their patients’ health and encourage them to do more preventative maintenance rather than waiting until there is a problem to take care of their health. For example, companies like Delta dental insurance are frequently encouraging their patients to go in for annual check-ups. Some personal dental insurance providers will send out newsletters with tips on how to keep your teeth healthy, or even host classes and seminars in lower-income areas highlighting basic health steps that can avoid significant problems down the road.

Why are leading dental individual insurance companies taking these steps? The reason is two-fold. One is that by providing additional services to their patients, they can increase customer loyalty and reduce turnover. The other reason is that by having healthier patients, the insurance companies can reduce their exposure to risk and therefore earn greater profits. After all, the insurance company will pay far less money to a dentist for individual check-ups rather than for treatment of patients who need major work costing thousands of dollars.

There are many reasons for insurance companies to want to keep you healthy, so it pays for you to take advantage of the free services they provide.