Presentation Title
Dental Insurance Coverage for Dental Students
Format
Event
Start Date
10-2-2012 12:00 AM
Abstract
Objective. To examine dental insurance coverage status of dental students. Background. Dental students’ health affects their academic performance, professional growth, and quality of life. To achieve good health, students should have access to health care, including dental care. However, it is unclear if dental students are offered school endorsed dental plans for their own dental needs. Methods. For this cross-sectional study, data was collected from websites of 57 dental schools across the US, websites of dental school endorsed insurance companies, and the 2009-2010 Dental Education Survey. Data was collected on: type of dental health plans offered, premium fee/year, deductible and maximum allowable fees, if coverage was included in the cost of attendance or not, and pre-doctoral dental student enrollment. Descriptive statistics were derived using excel software. Results. As of August 2011, 47 of the 57 dental schools offer some kind of dental plan. Seven schools with 1,710 pre-doctoral dental students offer no dental plan. The major dental providers include Aetna (37%), Delta Dental (13%), and plans offered through the school itself (9%). Eight out of 47 universities include the fee for the dental plan in the cost of attendance. Plans including dental coverage range from $0 to $1,508 per school year. 40 Conclusions. A significant proportion of schools do not offer school endorsed dental plans to almost 9% (n = 1,710) of all US dental students. Universities not currently offering dental coverage should consider ways to provide some form of dental health care coverage to their dental students.
Dental Insurance Coverage for Dental Students
Objective. To examine dental insurance coverage status of dental students. Background. Dental students’ health affects their academic performance, professional growth, and quality of life. To achieve good health, students should have access to health care, including dental care. However, it is unclear if dental students are offered school endorsed dental plans for their own dental needs. Methods. For this cross-sectional study, data was collected from websites of 57 dental schools across the US, websites of dental school endorsed insurance companies, and the 2009-2010 Dental Education Survey. Data was collected on: type of dental health plans offered, premium fee/year, deductible and maximum allowable fees, if coverage was included in the cost of attendance or not, and pre-doctoral dental student enrollment. Descriptive statistics were derived using excel software. Results. As of August 2011, 47 of the 57 dental schools offer some kind of dental plan. Seven schools with 1,710 pre-doctoral dental students offer no dental plan. The major dental providers include Aetna (37%), Delta Dental (13%), and plans offered through the school itself (9%). Eight out of 47 universities include the fee for the dental plan in the cost of attendance. Plans including dental coverage range from $0 to $1,508 per school year. 40 Conclusions. A significant proportion of schools do not offer school endorsed dental plans to almost 9% (n = 1,710) of all US dental students. Universities not currently offering dental coverage should consider ways to provide some form of dental health care coverage to their dental students.