A more holistic approach towards workplace wellbeing means that few group risk intermediaries can afford to turn a blind eye to optical or dental cover, for which the need has never been greater.
Indeed, Health Shield research shows that employees are now so cash-strapped that 81 per cent of them say they are going to reduce spending on routine healthcare like dentists and opticians.
Given this, it is perhaps not surprising some group risk insurers are now becoming active in this field. Unum offers both optical and dental cover, and Canada Life provides access to the Toothfairy app – offering digital support and assistance via smartphone for a range of dental issues.
Stephanie Parton-Corr, wellbeing lead at WTW, says: “Toothfairy is becoming popular in the market, and is particularly good for those nervous of dentists. So, watch this space, because other group risk players could follow suit. There is no reason why they shouldn’t get involved with optical either.”
Ocushield, which offers employees online eye screening (see box), could also prove a major beneficiary of this potential trend.
But, despite providers capitalising on the lockdown-fuelled popularity of virtual services, the dental and optical cover marketplaces as a whole haven’t made spectacular progress, and most developments volunteered by major players are relatively mundane.
For example, in 2021 Bupa introduced a dental care support line offering guaranteed appointments at one of its practices, emergency advice and second opinions. In 2022 it removed the waiting period on oral cancer claims, and this year it increased routine examination and scale and polish benefits on two plans and increased the new patient benefit on one.
Camilla Brooke, head of corporate sales at Simplyhealth, says: “I don’t think we are really seeing corporate optical and dental policies evolve to meet the needs of the modern workplace, and it’s becoming quite a stagnant market. Senior leaders’ interest in these strategies, having increased during Covid-19, now appears to be waning.”
Dental demand
The well-documented supply shortages in NHS dentistry and the prohibitive costs of private treatment mean there is far more focus on dental than optical.
Mercer Marsh Benefits senior principal James Love says: “My clients are not talking about optical but they are about dental, and there is massively more demand for stand-alone dental schemes than for cash plans. Alternatively, some smaller companies are taking dental add-ons to private medical insurance (PMI) schemes.
“Very few cash plans provide a worthwhile reimbursement for a crown or root canal, so stand-alone dental insurance is much better for employers who really value dental, and dental insurers are now increasing levels for check-ups and routine treatments because they realise that a preventative approach will cut back on larger claims.”
Nevertheless, dental insurers haven’t maximised their opportunities. Bupa research finds that 68 per cent of employees are motivated by having private dental insurance as a benefit over and above any other health and wellbeing benefit, but only 20 per cent say their company offers dental insurance.
Partners& wellbeing & benefits director Steve Herbert says: “The NHS dental access crisis has been growing for a long time but is not getting as much oxygen as the main NHS crisis. The revelation in this July’s Parliamentary report that one in 10 admit to doing DIY dental work is particularly worrying.”
Optical illusion
But lack of take up for optical cover lags even further behind, despite those using display screen equipment being legally entitled to request an eye test every two years and, if necessary, glasses. Research from Ocushield shows that few employees exercise this right – around 6 per cent with SMEs and around 2 per cent with large corporates.
A major difference with dental is the lack of a competitive insurance market. Whilst Unum does offer stand-alone cover for the costs of everyday optical expenses, intermediaries don’t report much demand for it.
Some employers offer schemes via national optical chains like Specsavers and Vision Express, which issue vouchers to cover the costs of a standard eye test and make some contribution towards glasses. But these are usually set up directly with providers without intermediary input.
Parton-Corr says: “PMI has very limited cover, which is typically a cash benefit capped at £100 every two years. Leading PMI providers tend to offer this as an optional extra but it’s rarely added because most employers use voucher schemes from the opticians or, if they have a cash plan, the optical cover on that.”
Cash plans
Both optical and dental benefit levels on cash plans have been shrinking, particularly on voluntary schemes due to anti-selection. Employees claiming more for cash plan benefits generally during the cost-of-living crisis is also putting significant upward pressure on premiums.
Prosperis head of employment benefit consulting Steve Ellis says: “I worry that cash plan rates will go up a lot now. One provider has already significantly increased rates, and they have more than doubled on more than one scheme.
“This will increase the relative attractions of PMI, which in my opinion will take over from cash plans. PMI providers may up their game with optical, and cash plan providers could be heading for a difficult period.”
Nevertheless, WTW reports that such dramatic premium rate increases have so far been confined to very well communicated schemes and that, even when premium rates have doubled, management information is still showing schemes to be good value from a preventative aspect.
For the time-being therefore, the arguments about whether it’s better to have a cash plan or a stand-alone dental scheme can still remain finely balanced for some employers.
Debra Clark, head of wellbeing, Towergate Health & Protection, says: “It will depend very much on the clients’ individual needs. Things like where the office is based, where people live, local dentist availability, impact on absence rates or time off work, and employee voice and feedback on what they would see as a benefit to them.”
Should spectacular rises in cash plan premiums become more widespread, we are likely to see an acceleration in the trend for employers to pay for a base level of cover, giving employees the ability to top up cover.
Further down the line we could even see cash plans start to exclude dental cover, as this is so well catered for via the stand-alone market.
BOX: OCUSHIELD EYES UP INTERMEDIARY SPACE
An online eye screening service launched in January 2023 by Ocushield can cost only £6 per employee per year and is accessible from anywhere via smartphone.
Dhruvin Patel, optometrist & founder of Ocushield, says: “It can be done in under seven minutes, even by blue collar workers on the move. We are not trying to replace the likes of Specsavers but to identify problems with vision and then create a pathway to refer to the opticians.
“I used to do screening for Vision Express in person and could only see 30 to 50 employees a day. But with this new service there is no limit, and it can be used multiple times a year.”
Ocushield currently works directly with some employers and via a small number of intermediaries. But it is hoping to be dealing with most UK employee benefit consultants within the next 18 months.
Patel continues “There will be a big push from next spring. We are trying to shake up an archaic and stale industry that is well behind dental, physio and online GPs.”
