Taikang Dental Deepens 'Insurance + Healthcare' Integration with Launch of Long-Term Dental Insurance 'Healthy Teeth for Life'

In June 2018, Taikang Insurance Group officially announced its strategic investment in Bybo Dental, marking the beginning of the integration of healthcare and insurance under the Taikang Bybo Medical Group. Now, it is the fifth year since both parties reached the strategic agreement on integrating healthcare and insurance.

At this year’s Wuhan Grand Health Expo, Taikang Bybo Medical Group further deepened its strategy of integrating healthcare with insurance by launching a new long-term dental insurance product, “Good Teeth for Life.” This follows the 2022 debut of its new high-end dental brand, Taikang Dental. The eight-year long-term dental plan is designed to help members better achieve sustained oral health protection.

After five years of exploration, how far has Taikang Bybo Medical Group progressed in integrating “payment + services” and combining healthcare with insurance? The dental sub-forum at the Wuhan Grand Health Expo may have provided the answer.

Chen Honghua, Member of the Management Committee of Taikang Insurance Group and CEO of Taikang Bybo

Currently, dental care services are primarily paid out-of-pocket, with procedures such as dental implants and orthodontics imposing substantial financial burdens on patients.“The exclusion of dental services from medical insurance reimbursement, with costs borne entirely by patients,” is regarded as one of the most significant barriers to accessing oral healthcare. Successfully addressing payment mechanisms will determine whether the demand for dental services can be more effectively unleashed.In fact, dental care data from the United States also supports this point: According to Taikang Bybo Medical Group, dental insurance covers two-thirds of the U.S. population, and more than 60% of oral healthcare costs are paid through dental insurance products. Thanks to the widespread adoption of dental insurance, U.S. dental patients demonstrate a higher willingness to pay for dental visits.

However, effectively integrating dental care with medical insurance to innovate a “payment + service” model is not as easy as it may seem.

On the one hand, the payer side must possess the capability to innovate in insurance product design, enabling the development of full-cycle dental health products centered on preventive care, while effectively managing risks such as underwriting and claims adjudication and maintaining strong fulfillment capabilities. On the other hand, coordination with the service provider side is essential; alongside delivering dental treatment services, it should enhance users’ awareness of oral health management, thereby promoting early prevention and reducing subsequent medical expenditures for dental care.

In building a collaborative innovation model integrating healthcare and insurance, both the payer side and the provider side are indispensable.

In the past, some companies have also explored and attempted dental insurance products. However, due to the lack of effective integration between “insurance + healthcare” services, it has often been difficult to successfully implement this model, with many efforts limited to using insurance products merely as a means of patient acquisition. Nevertheless, numerous companies continue to press forward, committed to building an “integrated medical-insurance” model. They are undoubtedly motivated by the significant benefits that such integration offers in the dental care sector.

According to the Fourth National Oral Health Epidemiological Survey Report, the prevalence of oral diseases in China exceeds 90%, yet the consultation rate stands at only 10%. Recognizing this significant gap, Taikang Bybo Medical Group has undertaken extensive explorations—

On the one hand, new dental insurance products are being continuously launched.For example, in 2019, Taikang Bybo Medical Group launched its “Ai Ya Wu You” dental care product; in 2021, it further introduced the “Tai Ai Ya” group dental insurance product; and in 2022, it officially released the “Taikang Zhong Ya Wu You Bao” dental implant insurance. Now, Taikang Bybo Medical Group has further launched “Hao Ya Yi Sheng,” a long-term dental insurance plan with an eight-year coverage period.

On the other hand, oral healthcare services are being continuously deepened.One pivotal milestone was perhaps in August 2022, when Taikang Bybo Medical Group launched its new premium dental brand, Taikang Dental. Leveraging Taikang Bybo Dental’s more than 30 years of accumulated expertise in the field of dentistry, and supported by a multidisciplinary team of specialists covering orthodontics, implantology, periodontics, aesthetic restoration, and pediatric dentistry, as well as a comprehensive medical management system encompassing physicians, technology, clinical cases, and disciplinary development, Taikang Dental has introduced novel oral health concepts—such as “oral health management experts,” “private dentists,” and a “general practitioner first-visit model.” These concepts have been effectively implemented in the provision of dental care services to high-net-worth patients.

Furthermore, Taikang Bybo Medical Group is continuously enhancing the accessibility of dental care services and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, professional medical services. Currently, Taikang Bybo Medical Group has a presence in nearly 50 cities across China, operating approximately 160 specialized dental institutions and employing nearly 1,200 professional dentists, serving close to 2.5 million patients annually. Additionally, the Taikang Dental brand, launched last year, has established operations and begun providing services in Wuhan and Nanjing.

Through product innovation on the payment side and enhanced capabilities on the service side, Taikang Bybo Medical Group is further achieving a mutually reinforcing synergy with the ecosystem of Taikang Insurance Group—

On one hand, there is the contribution of the insurance payment side to the medical service side. Throughout 2022, the insurance channel contributed as much as 19% to Taikang Bybo Medical Group. Among the clinics opened by Taikang Stomatology in Nanjing, the proportion of performance from the Taikang channel exceeded 80%, achieved by optimizing the non-medical service system for high-net-worth clients. On the other hand, the medical service ecosystem empowers the insurance payment side. By empowering top-performing insurance agents through the Super Experience Centers (Dental Super Experience Centers), it facilitates the signing of contracts that are not limited to dental insurance products: among the 300,000 visitors served by the Super Experience Centers, more than 200,000 converted to insurance product purchases. Moreover, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of synergy efficiency indicators exceeded 200%.

Taikang Bybo Medical Group has truly embarked on the path of “integrating healthcare with insurance.” The launch of innovative long-term dental insurance products, such as Hao Ya Yi Sheng, represents a further extension of this exploration.

At the Stomatology Sub-forum of the Wuhan Grand Health Expo, Taikang Bybo Medical Group joined forces with Taikang Life Insurance to launch “Hao Ya Yi Sheng” (Good Teeth for Life), an eight-year long-term dental insurance product. For an annual premium of just RMB 800, members gain access to comprehensive managed oral health services, including oral health assessments, oral health management, and coverage for dental treatments. Previously, Taikang Bybo Medical Group piloted this product in Shanghai, where it received a positive response. The launch of this product marks another concrete step in the implementation of Taikang Bybo Medical Group’s strategy of integrating medical care with insurance in the dental sector.

In fact, by reviewing the numerous dental insurance products and oral healthcare services launched by Taikang Bybo after receiving investment from Taikang Insurance Group in 2018, one can better understand why this represents a further deepening of the “integration of medical care and insurance” strategy in dentistry. To date, Taikang Bybo Medical Group, in collaboration with Taikang Life Insurance, Taikang Pension, and Taikang Online, has jointly launched more than 40 dental insurance products. These offerings include dental implant quality insurance, “Tai Ai Ya,” “Hao Chi You Yue,” “Hao Ya Yi Sheng” long-term dental insurance, and annuity products with dental benefits such as “Xingfu You Yue,” among others.

On the one hand, we can see that Taikang Bybo is continuously improving its dental insurance products and service offerings.Specifically, this can be broadly categorized into the continuous expansion of the following three major product categories:

By continuously improving its product and service offerings, Taikang Bybo has gradually achieved comprehensive coverage of dental insurance and oral healthcare services across the entire life cycle—from children to adults, and from prevention to treatment.

On the other hand, we can see that Taikang Bybo Medical Group has truly entered the “deep water zone” of integrating healthcare with insurance.

As many insurers have attempted, in its early stages, Taikang Bybo Medical Group also leveraged insurance products for one-way patient referral and channel-based customer acquisition. For instance, dental implant quality insurance was designed to safeguard the quality of medical services and alleviate patients’ concerns about accessing oral healthcare. In the mid-term exploration phase, the group consciously fostered synergy between the insurance payment side and the medical service provision side, achieving mutual reinforcement. The launch of group insurance products such as “Tai Ai Ya” and HMO-oriented health management offerings like “Hao Chi You Yue” not only facilitated policy conversions but also more effectively demonstrated Taikang Bybo Medical Group’s capabilities in oral health management. Currently, its ongoing efforts are further advancing the creation of a closed-loop model integrating healthcare and insurance. Through products such as “Health Appointment” and “Good Teeth for Life,” the group locks in long-term customers and provides them with more in-depth follow-up insurance products and related services.

To better realize the integration of healthcare and insurance, as well as the synergy between insurance and medical services, Taikang Bybo Medical Group is leveraging digital technologies to ensure homogeneous quality in premium healthcare. This approach not only expands coverage to more cities and enhances the supply of high-quality medical services but also guarantees balanced geographical distribution of medical resources, uniformity in service quality, and standardization of clinical workflows.

For instance, first, the adoption of new technologies such as digital implantology has shifted the paradigm from one heavily reliant on physicians’ experience to one that enables precision, minimally invasive procedures, and standardization in oral surgery. Second, telemedicine facilitates mentoring by senior clinicians for junior doctors, thereby enhancing the overall competence of the medical workforce. Finally, the platformization of service workflows and the digitization of operational data reports allow operators to make rapid and flexible adjustments based on business performance.

Across China, to better build an ecosystem integrating dental care with insurance and provide high-quality medical services to more patients, Taikang Bybo Medical Group is also developing the “E-Chi Kang” product. By collaborating with more professionals in the dental healthcare industry, it aims to deliver high-quality, accessible medical services to patients.

The three-year pandemic has had a significant impact on offline medical services. In the current post-pandemic era, Chen Honghua, a member of the Management Committee of Taikang Insurance Group and CEO of Taikang Bybo, firmly stated that he is optimistic about the future development of the industry. "Some of the pent-up demand for dental diagnosis and treatment from the past three years is being further released. The entire market is currently recovering."

Chen Honghua, Member of the Management Committee of Taikang Insurance Group and CEO of Taikang Bybo, in an interview

Meanwhile, the future trajectory of centralized procurement for dental implants is further promoting price transparency and reasonable pricing in the field of dental implant services. The ultimate outcome will be a trade-off between price and volume, further increasing the penetration rate of related oral healthcare services. As people place greater emphasis on oral health, coupled with the widespread adoption of dental insurance products, using dental insurance to cover oral healthcare costs will become a major trend.

Chen Honghua stated, “Taikang Bybo Dental will adhere to its strategy of integrating dental insurance with clinical care, employing it as a standardized tool to support the diagnostic and treatment process, establish benchmarks for homogeneous services, and ensure that consumers receive consistent, high-quality dental care across all its locations.” Ultimately, through the continued expansion of its medical-insurance integrated ecosystem, it will benefit a broader population of dental patients.