@dr.michaelschaake: Dental insurance was created by dentists in 1954 in response to demands from the longshoremen’s union on the west coast. Dentists were afraid of socialized dentistry or union-run clinics so they created dental insurance. That way patients could use the benefits with whatever dentist they chose. If there was going to be coverage, dentists wanted to make sure they controlled it, not the unions. Today delta dental is a non-profit consortium of state-based dental insurance companies. It is one of many. The situation seems hopeless, but it’s not. There is room for them to pay more: in 2024 the dental insurance industry collected roughly $113 Billion in Revenue. It only paid out an estimated $65-70 Billion in claims. The dental insurance industry kept roughly $40 Billion before expenses. Allegedly this all goes to admin fees. If you are familiar with the quality of admin at a dental insurance company, you know that doesn’t make sense. Just ask you front desk who deals with insurance companies on the phone. Medical insurance has a 12%- 18% gross margin. Dental insurance has a 25%- 40% gross margin. Once again, this allegedly all goes to admin fees. Dental insurance companies justify this by saying that their staff and operating costs are higher per dollar of premium collected, (many smaller, low dollar claims compared to medical) but that is still a huge number and if they didn’t spend so much time fighting claims and training their staff and making portals that were actually easy to use, those costs could be brought down and they could do better for their beneficiaries. #dentistry #dentalinsurance #dental #oralhealth #dentalpractice

Dr. Michael Schaake

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Region: US

Thursday 20 August 2026 03:11:32 GMT