Delta Dental Launches New Flexible Dual Choice Programs in Select Mid-Atlantic States.MECHANICSBURG, Pa. -- Mid-Atlantic businesses can now turn to Delta Dental Delta Dental is the largest and oldest dental plan system in the United States. The Delta Dental Plans Association is comprised of 39 independent Delta Dental member companies operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Pennsylvania, West Virginia West Virginia, E central state of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland (N), Virginia (E and S), and Kentucky and, across the Ohio R., Ohio (W). Facts and Figures Area, 24,181 sq mi (62,629 sq km). Pop. and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). for a new flexible arrangement that lets enrollees switch between two different dental programs as often as monthly. The arrangement extends access to either a prepaid-type dental program that combines more generous coverage with a smaller dentist panel and an open, fee-for-service program that combines a wider dentist selection with more limited coverage. A monthly switching option lets enrollees move from one to the other, mirroring a similar program successfully launched in late 2004 by Delta Dental of California. Flexible dual choice programs are now available to large and mid-sized New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and District of Columbia groups with more than 100 enrollees. The program will be available to groups in additional Mid-Atlantic states Mid-At·lan·tic States See Middle Atlantic States. Noun 1. Mid-Atlantic states - a region of the eastern United States comprising New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Maryland U.S.A. once regulatory approval is granted. Most group dental benefit programs lock enrollees into a specific program type for a minimum one-year period once a program election is made during their company's designated open enrollment period. By contrast, Delta Dental enrollees with a flexible dual choice arrangement can choose between DeltaCare USA, a prepaid dental program offered by Delta Dental's marketing affiliates, and one of two fee-for-service Delta Dental programs. Delta Dental Premier offers a more traditional managed fee-for-service program while Delta Dental PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there is a lower-cost dental preferred provider organization pre·ferred provider organization n. Abbr. PPO A medical insurance plan in which members receive more coverage if they choose health care providers approved by or affiliated with the plan. . The employer chooses the precise configuration of these programs and can choose to implement the monthly switching feature instead of the more traditional annual switch arrangement. "Employers looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. increased flexibility will find flexible dual choice programs ideal as they reduce the administrative requirements of more traditional dual-choice programs," said Roy Hilliard, Delta Dental's senior vice president of Mid-Atlantic Sales. "Once an employee is enrolled in the program, all program aspects are seamlessly administered. With enrollees able to switch programs once a month, they can tailor their dental care to their preferences and needs as they change." Delta Dental of Pennsylvania, together with its mid-Atlantic affiliates, covers 3 million enrollees, with consolidated gross annual revenues in 2005 of $700 million. The company is also part of a larger holding company system - one of the nation's largest dental benefits administrators - collectively serving more than 21 million enrollees in both commercial and government-sponsored programs. |
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