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Dental Benefits Respond to Affordability Challenges: Takeaways from NADP’s State of the Market Report
By Mike Adelberg, NADP Executive Director
NADP’s 2026 State of the Market Report reveals several notable trends – rising dental care costs, increased cost-shifting by employers, and a dental benefits industry working to enhance benefits while keeping costs stable.
Built on plan data from 2024, the report paints a picture of a market balancing competing priorities: managing rising costs, maintaining access to care, and delivering meaningful benefits. The following findings offer a closer look at how these dynamics are playing out.
Dental Care Costs and Coverage. The cost of dental services rose by nearly five percent, with both insurer-paid and consumer out-of-pocket costs climbing substantially. Dentists are providing more care, and dental plans are increasing their payments to dentists while holding premium increases well below inflation (0.1 percent in 2024.)
Annual Maximums. I have heard concerns that annual maximums are not rising, but the data shows otherwise, with annual maximum benefit levels continuing a multi-year climb. In 2024, 57 percent of commercially-insured consumers were in plans with annual maximums of $1500 or more, this contrasts with 48 percent in 2023. The data also show only a small share – less than five percent – of members reaching their annual maximum. And, for employers willing to invest in greater protection for their employees with greater needs, carriers now offer specialized plans with no annual maximums or roll-over of unspent benefit dollars below the annual maximum.
Rising Medical Insurance Costs Result in Cost Shifting. Employers are experiencing rising costs, notably with regard to medical coverage. Employers are responding by shifting the cost of other benefits, including dental benefits, to their employees. In 2024, there was a substantial increase in the number of people, 51 percent, getting their dental benefits through voluntary plans where the premium is paid by the employee. The cost increases shouldered by employees are not driven by rising dental benefits premiums, but rather a result of cost shifting.
Dental Plan Enrollment on Public Exchanges. Enrollment in stand-alone dental plans (SADP) on state-based exchanges now matches enrollment through HealthCare.gov, even though 21 state-based marketplaces serve fewer enrollees than the 29 states relying on the federal platform. Nearly all state exchanges permit the independent purchase of dental plans, but the federal exchange platform (www.healthcare.gov) does not. This underscores the need to update www.healthcare.gov to permit independently purchased dental coverage.
Findings from this year’s State of the Market Report point to several considerations that could help stabilize and even strengthen dental benefits coverage.
- Support Access-Oriented Benefit Designs. Purchasers of dental care should continue to encourage plan designs that minimize cost barriers to preventive and diagnostic care. Dental plan deductibles are generally low and should remain so. Rising annual maximums are a positive trend that hopefully can be maintained amid greater financial pressure.
- Limit Cost-Shifting. As employers shift more dental benefit costs to employees, purchasers should consider incentives for employer contributions, particularly for lower-wage workers. Employers can subsidize dental purchases if their employees cannot pay the entire premium. They can also consider benefit designs that reward employees for getting regular checkups.
- Recognize Dental Coverage as Part of Employee Wellness. Perhaps most important, purchasers need to recognize the importance of dental benefits as a cost-effective tool to improve overall health. Integrating dental benefits into a wholistic employee wellness strategy contextualizes dental as a cost-offset against higher medical costs, a check against employee absenteeism, and a driver of greater employee satisfaction.
