Aetna Dental Introduces Two New Plan Options As Employers Select Their 2008 Benefits Coverage
New plans encourage members to seek dental care
HARTFORD, Conn., September 25, 2007 — Aetna (NYSE: ΑET) announced that it has just launched two new dental plans designed to encourage members to seek appropriate dental care. Aetna Dental Care RewardSM is a plan that rewards members with more coverage each year simply by visiting the dentist for regular preventive care. Aetna DMO Access® is an innovative and lower-cost Dental Maintenance Organization (DMO®) plan with additional access to Aetna’s discount network, Aetna Dental Access®.
"We understand people have different dental needs and may want different types of dental benefits," said Alan Hirschberg, vice president and head of Aetna Dental. "Our goal is to create a broader range of options in our dental plans that will make it easy to go to the dentist and in some cases even provide an incentive to seek oral health care."
The two new plans are:
Aetna Dental Care Reward
By simply going to the dentist for preventive services, such as a cleaning, in one plan year, Aetna will cover a greater percentage in the following plan year for services like fillings and crowns, thereby lowering members’ out of pocket costs. Aetna will reward members with up to three annual increases, not to exceed 100 percent of coverage for preventive, diagnostic and basic care and not to exceed 70 percent for major care. This plan design is available in either a PPO or indemnity plan, and at a variety of benefit levels. In the PPO plan, members have access to over 95,000 available dental PPO practice locations and, on average, typically save 35 percent or more off dentist average charges when receiving services from a participating dentist.
"The Aetna Dental Care Reward plan is part of our commitment to educating members on the importance of preventive dental care to their overall health," said Hirschberg. "This plan complements our industry-leading Aetna Dental/Medical IntegrationSM program which educates and encourages members with certain medical conditions to seek preventive care."
Research conducted by Aetna and Columbia University College of Dental Medicine shows that individuals with certain chronic conditions who sought earlier, regular dental care lowered the risk or severity of those conditions and subsequently, lowered their overall medical costs.
Aetna DMO Access®
DMO Access has the advantages of a DMO plan such as lower out-of-pocket expenses when compared with most traditional indemnity plans. There are also no out of pocket deductibles for the member to pay and no claim forms. It also includes the Aetna Dental Access discount network, which provides members access to more dentists and discounts for non-covered services like bleaching.
Other features of this plan include:
- Access to over 35,000 available DMO dental practice locations nationwide
- Access to more than 56,000 additional available dental practice locations through Aetna’s discount network, Aetna Dental Access
- $0 copay for preventive and diagnostic services
- No annual limit on benefits
- DMO non-covered services, such as cosmetic procedures like bleaching, available at discounts of 15 to 50 percent
"Because this product provides comprehensive affordable coverage with predictable out of pocket expenses, it has broad appeal to both employers looking to balance benefit offerings with their bottom line, and employees across all different life stages," Hirschberg added. "The discounts are another great perk that consumers have told us they would like."
Keeping Members Informed
With a focus on educating employers and members on the importance of good oral health and overall health, Aetna provides dental health information through its website,
Simple Steps to Better Dental Health, which offers articles, illustrations, interactive tools, information on dental conditions and treatments. Members can also register on Aetna Navigator™, Aetna’s secure member website, where they can review family members also covered by the plan, check claims, review statements, request replacement ID cards and have access to member services.
About Aetna Dental®
Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary (1957-2007), Aetna Dental is one of the nation’s leading providers of integrated and standalone dental products, serving 13.4 million total dental members. Aetna also offers some of the largest dental networks available in the industry today.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 34.9 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care and disability plans, and medical management capabilities. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans. www.aetna.com
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