As more buyers are choosing to purchase health insurance online, insurance providers have expanded the types of coverage that they offer to try to appeal to more consumers. Various types of optional health coverage can expand the benefits of a policy and provide a family with more security. While no type of optional health coverage is right for every type of family, there are a few add-on coverage types that can be a great investment.

Dental insurance is an obvious example. Families with young children can often get a lot of mileage out of a dental plan, and many health insurance providers offer add-on dental insurance policies for an easy, low-cost way to cover the expenses of unexpected surgery or dental work. Buying dental insurance as an add-on is a particularly good idea for families who are happy with their insurers and the choice of physicians offered by their policies. However, it's important to note that the dental insurance plans and health insurance plans offered by a single insurance company may be very different, so as always, it's important to read the documents included with optional coverage to make sure that it's worthwhile and appropriate for a family's needs.

A disability benefit can be an extremely helpful coverage to add to a health insurance policy. Disability benefits work like traditional disability insurance policies in most cases, so they're essentially add-on policies. In some plans, disability benefits are more skewed towards medical services than income replacement, so policy holders should be sure to understand which type of coverage they're paying for. In either case, disability benefits provide tremendous assistance in difficult financial times, as a family breadwinner can take on large bills due to a temporary or permanent disability. Having some type of protection is important, especially for families with two working members and individuals who work in high-risk occupations.

There are dozens of other optional health coverage types that may be suited to different types of families. Growing families should consider a maternity benefit, which covers the costs of pregnancy and delivery. Prescription drug benefits can be useful for almost any family, while hospital indemnity coverage can protect a family against major hospitalization expenses. Preventive care benefits pay for childhood immunizations and other preventive health services, and many insurers offer special preventive care packages for families which are designed to cover most common expenses. Families should investigate all of the optional health coverage types offered by their insurers when shopping for health insurance online, as electing to pay for some optional coverage can end up saving a family thousands of dollars in the long run.