Now available online, DeltaCare Dental Program fills marketplace void with coverage that targets those without employer-based group benefits

An Irving, Texas-based dental insurance company is offering a new solution to a longstanding problem: coverage for Texans without access to group dental programs.

Alpha Dental Programs, Inc., the dental HMO affiliate of Delta Dental Insurance Company, unveiled today a new individual prepaid dental product in Texas called DeltaCare. The program provides coverage for more than 140 dental procedures through a network of nearly 500 dentists statewide. Enrollees pay a low monthly premium and modest copayments for covered services.

The product is geared for individuals, seniors and families facing limited choices in the marketplace for individual-type dental products. Such products -- tailored specifically to the needs of those not covered though an employer -- are hard to find because few insurers want the risk of trying to balance too many heavy users with too few light ones in a program where participation is "voluntary."

"We put together a product specifically designed for people
without access to employer-based coverage," said Robert Elliott,
president of Delta Dental Insurance Company. "After extensively studying what type of program administration would work best for these individuals, we created a program with their convenience in mind, making it easier than ever to get information, find a dentist and enroll -- all through their computers."

More than 54,000 people in Texas already have coverage under DeltaCare group and individual programs, which are administered for Alpha Dental by PMI Dental Health Plan. An additional 465,000 Texans are enrolled in Delta Dental Insurance Company's fee-for-service programs.

To explore the program and sign up, computer users need only go to Delta Dental Insurance Company's web page at www.deltadentalins.com and click on the link for individual program enrollment. Others can contact PMI at 800/422-4234 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time to sign up by phone or obtain more information.

Delta Dental Insurance Company, PMI and Alpha Dental all belong to an integrated holding company system formed last year between Delta Dental Plan of California and Delta Dental of Pennsylvania. The holding company system covers 17.6 million people in 16 states and the District of Columbia. The holding company components are part of the nationwide Delta Dental Plans Association, whose member Delta Plans collectively cover 39 million people in all 50 states.