Medicare Advantage & Network at DentaQuest

When people think about seniors and health insurance, they generally think of Medicare. We forget that there are seniors who pay out of pocket or avoid care altogether. Studies show supplemental benefits like dental and vision are frequently the focus for seniors evaluating Medicare Advantage plans.

According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report, 48 percent of Medicare beneficiaries in 2022 were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, and that is expected to increase to more than 50 percent by 2025. Given my experience and time at DentaQuest, I am in the unique position to demonstrate how dental is a differentiator in plan design and overall health. Part of Sun Life U.S., DentaQuest manages dental and vision benefits for more than 33 million Americans through a nationwide network of providers in all 50 states. Knowing the importance of oral health to overall health, it is imperative we address seniors as a specific population with specific dental needs to ensure holistic health outcomes.

‘DentaQuest will continue to prioritize oral health, ‘put the mouth back in the body’, and deliver solutions that will improve the oral and overall health of all.’

It is 2023, and yet many seniors live with poor oral health and limited access to oral health care. This can lead to issues staying nourished, loneliness hardened by poor self-esteem, and problems communicating. We know the emergency department is where some seniors go when they feel pain, but we also know the emergency department is rarely the right place for helping seniors – or anyone, really – with the underlying issues that cause oral pain.

Seniors are underserved when it comes to dental coverage and lack a seamless experience when they exit their commercial health plans or employer-sponsored coverage and age into Medicare.