Group Dental Renewals

[ABC]

In the last year I have been selling a lot of (not really a lot) voluntary dental plans. I am starting to see renewals on the small groups.

AVG 9.7% rate increase with Humana.

I am not happy about this.

What are you seeing on your voluntary and contributory dental renewals?

 

[stuy119]

I'm seeing 1-3% on Delta Dental renewals. Humana was similar on a case that renewed on 11/1/11, and I moved it over to Delta.

In general, I don't use the carrier dental and prefer Delta. I've found their service to be easy to work with, and their network is excellent here in Chicago. Oh, and their prices are wonderful compared to the health carriers.

 

[Ann H]

Delta Dental is hands down the best. Pricey, though.

I have quite a few Humana dental plans. Humana will call their dental "Employer Sponsored" if the ER kicks in at least 25% of the EE-only premium. That's they way most of my groups do it when they really want voluntary because the ER sponsored plan is better and priced better.

Humana negotiates renewals. Almost always. On the medical side if it's really a substandard 3 case they won't, but they negotiate most everything else. If it's a Preferred 1, 2, 3 or Manual 1 they often negotiate without competitor's data. If I send competitors' quotes, they negotiate on any group they want to keep due to underwriting assumptions and size of group. Quite often they'll negotiate then sweeten the pot by saying they'll come down a certain percentage more if you add an ancillary line like dental, life or vision. Even on the Substandard 1, 2 & 3 cases they do this. The reduction in the medical premium is usually identical to or slightly more than the whole group's cost of the added line. I do this all the time. That's one of the ways I ended up with so much Humana dental (although I sold it on its own merits, too.)

On the dental side I get rate passes a lot. I have a group right now of 19 enrolled employees on ER sponsored dental with only 25% ER contribution. Humana just gave the 3rd rate pass in 4 years. I had sent competitive data.

I like Humana's PPO dental plan. (I don't sell the Dental HMO.) I've sold it for years and it stays on the books.

Twenty years ago, few employers had dental. Then during the good economic times it was rare to find a business that had medical but not dental (at least here in AZ). During the recession (which hit AZ hard due to the housing market), businesses deleted ancillary coverage and termed dental or turned it into voluntary. Now I find more businesses are wanting it back, either voluntary or ER sponsored. By far though, most of my group dental plans are truly ER sponsored at much more than the 25% that Humana allows.

Other quality carriers are MetLife and Principal Financial. Delta's the best though - no question.

 

[somarco]

Have you considered plans from Group Link?

Voluntary dental is a tough product to price due to adverse selection. Group Link had a good product at one time and may still have. I haven't had any contact with them in years when Roger Skinner was running the operation.

 

[bukev1]

i like Solstice in my area. 2 yr rate guarantee on voluntary plans.

 

[ABC]

Ann,
Great feedback on this topic.

I think I am going to shift gears and start placing V. Dental with Principal. Who claim to avg 4.7% rate increase.


You make a valid point about the rate increase waivers with Humana or the employered sponsored rate.

 

[junkman]

Here it is easy to beat the carrier down with competitive data. Just get the quotes & email to your group rep who wants to keep the business.

There are still enough good dental carriers to get some competition going. I would shop the case & then decide. Some carriers win ties because of my relationship with the rep but none get the nod before I know where the market is.