Delta Dental's TRICARE Retiree Dental Plan Reaches 700,000 Enrollees; Enhanced Program Attracts 50,000 New Members.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

SAN FRANCISCO & SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2003

Delta Dental of California announced today that enrollment in the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP) has surpassed 700,000, largely on the strength of enhanced benefits made available in May that has attracted new membership.

Officials with Delta say that in the first year of a new five-year $1 billion contract with the Department of Defense, nearly 50,000 new eligible Uniformed Services retirees and their family members have joined, many since last spring when significant changes were made to the nation's largest, voluntary, all-enrollee paid dental program.

"Changes made to the program last spring are helping us reach more of the 4.2 million Uniformed Services retirees and family members eligible for the TRDP," said Lowell Daun, DDS, senior vice president for Delta's Federal Services division. "Offering comprehensive benefits with fewer restrictions in the first year of enrollment responded directly to the feedback from the program's previous enrollees. Today, in partnership with the TRICARE Management Activity (TMA), we are seeing the rewards of listening to our members."

The TRDP was first authorized by Congress in 1997, and continues today to offer one of the few affordable, comprehensive dental benefit programs available to the nation's Uniformed Services retirees and their family members. The TRDP is a nationwide, combined fee-for-service/ preferred provider program that offers enrollees access to any licensed dentist in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Canada.

While enrollees may seek care from any licensed dentist in the service area, optimal benefits are available to those who choose a participating "DeltaSelect USA" or "DeltaPreferred Option USA" dentist in over 67,000 locations nationwide.

Since May, the TRDP offers a reduced mandatory enrollment obligation of only 12 months, after which enrollees may (and most do) remain in the program on a month-to-month basis. Coverage for diagnostic and preventive services, basic restorative services, periodontics, endodontics, oral surgery, dental emergencies and a separate dental accident benefit are available immediately on the effective date of coverage. Additionally, the waiting period for a greater scope of benefits was reduced to just 12 months, after which the maximum coverage for crowns, bridges, full/partial dentures and orthodontics goes into effect.

"Since the program's introduction, Congress and the Department of Defense have steadily increased the benefit level," said Daun.

The TRDP carries a $50 annual deductible. The program also now includes a family cap of $150 and an increased annual maximum amount of $1,200 against which preventive and diagnostic services are not counted. In addition to the annual maximum, the TRDP also has a separate dental accident annual maximum of $1,000 and a lifetime orthodontic maximum of $1,200.

Eligible retirees and their family members can find answers to their questions about the program as well as enroll using Delta's dedicated TRDP web site at www.trdp.org or by calling the toll-free number at 1-866-567-1658.

Delta Dental of California belongs to a larger holding company system, formed jointly with Delta Dental of Pennsylvania and several affiliate companies, covering 20 million enrollees in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Both the California and Pennsylvania Delta Plans are members of the national Delta Dental Plans Association, which collectively covers 43 million American.