How can dental insurance be optimized?

Excerpt

In Europe, on average 70% of total expenditure on dental care is private expenditure and 16% of this private expenditure is covered by complementary dental insurance (CDI) [1]. However, most CDI products currently on the market in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands are not optimal because (1) they provide little protection against financial risk and do not improve access to otherwise unaffordable dental treatment (e.g., implants and crowns) and (2) moral hazard and adverse selection are not sufficiently counteracted. The suboptimal character of CDI can be explained by supply-side aspects (the limits of insurability) and demand-side aspects (behavioral economics). On the basis of these potential explanations, strategies will be drawn to optimize dental insurance. …