New hybrid dental plan looks like a prepaid - drives like a PPO
Assurant Employee Benefits, the insurer that is reinventing the ancillary benefits market through innovation, has introduced a new dental plan that combines the affordability and wellness-promoting features of prepaid dental care with the broad choices of a dental PPO.
The new product, called PPO Choice+ -- a dental benefit plan, is a more affordable PPO option designed for employers struggling to manage their dental benefit costs. It offers employers and employees the affordability they need and the simplicity they crave, providing a "middle ground" benefit that fills the gap between prepaid plans and top-shelf PPO plans.
"PPO Choice+ focuses on the needs of employees," said Mark Bohen, senior vice president of marketing and customer relations at Assurant Employee Benefits. "Research indicates that employees want to be able to see the dentist of their choice and know how much a procedure will cost out-of-pocket before it is performed. With PPO Choice+, employees are likely to find their favorite dentist within the plan's extensive Dental Health Alliance PPO network. And the in-network copayment schedule communicates out-of-pocket costs by specific dental procedure, so they know how much they will have to pay up front."
Bohen said PPO Choice+ offers many popular features that appeal to brokers, employers and employees alike. These include:
- Access to Dental Health Alliance PPO network with more than 49,500 dentists and locations nationwide
- No in-network deductible to meet
- Employees know out-of-pocket expenses up front
- No referral necessary for visits to in-network specialists
- Low or no charge for in-network preventive services such as exams, cleanings, x-rays, sealants and topical flouride treatments
- Available as either an employer- or employee-paid plan in PPO markets
- Child orthodontia available at 50 percent coinsurance
- Out-of-network benefits included
"We developed PPO Choice+ to meet the changing needs of a changing marketplace," Bohen said. "Assurant Employee Benefits is committed to market leadership in innovation, and this is just one more example."
Assurant Employee Benefits specializes in quality employee benefits and services, including long-term and short-term disability, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, dental coverage, and disability reinsurance management services. Assurant Employee Benefits also offers voluntary (employee-paid) disability, life and dental plans. Products and services marketed by Assurant Employee Benefits are underwritten or provided by Fortis Benefits Insurance Company, First Fortis Life Insurance Company (in New York), or an affiliated prepaid dental company. Plans contain limitations and exclusions. Underwriting flexibility allows Assurant Employee Benefits to market tailor-made benefit plans for groups of most any size. Assurant Employee Benefits is located in Kansas City, Missouri.
Assurant Employee Benefits is part of Assurant, which offers specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected other markets. Its five key businesses - Assurant Employee Benefits; Assurant Health; Assurant Preneed; Assurant Solutions and Assurant SpecialtyProperty - have partnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have built leadership positions in a number of specialty market segments in the U.S. and selected international markets.
Assurant is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. The Assurant website is www.assurant.com