Facts about Delta Dental Plans Association

• Delta Dental member Plans serve nearly one-third of the estimated 155 million Americans with dental insurance, providing dental coverage to more than 45 million people in nearly 76,000 groups across the nation.
• Delta Dental's panel of dentists for its fee-for-service product is the country's most extensive. Delta Dental contracts with more than three out of every four U.S. dentists - or 142,523 dentist locations. These practitioners are also part of DeltaUSA's (Delta Dental's National Accounts Program) fee-for-service product network - DeltaPremier USA.
• Delta Dental Plans posted approximately $9.7 billion in premium revenue during fiscal year 2002, the system's 23rd consecutive year of financial gains.
• In 2002, Delta Dental Plans processed more than 77 million dental claims or nearly 1,484,842 every week, with an accuracy rate of 99 percent.
• Since 1954, Delta Dental has worked to improve oral health in the U.S. by emphasizing preventive care, and making dental coverage affordable to a wide variety of employers and groups.
• Delta Dental's unique cost control measures and contractual agreements with dentists help to ensure quality care at moderate fees, saving groups more than $3 billion in 2002.

Delta Dental Products

Delta Dental Plans offer a variety of local programs that range from traditional fee-for service and preferred-provider programs (DPPOs) to dental health maintenance organizations (DHMOs) and Point-of-Service (POS), as well as customized programs as needed. Delta Dental also offers dental programs to national account groups. Through DeltaUSA, DDPA's national accounts program, Delta Dental Member Plans provide quality, uniform dental benefits programs to groups with a multi-state labor force. These products include:

• Managed fee-for-service products: DeltaPremier USA
• Dental preferred-provider organizations (DPPOs): DeltaPreferred Option USA
• Dental health maintenance organizations (DHMOs): DeltaCare USA
• National voluntary group customers and Tricare (dental benefits program for uniformed military retirees and their families): DeltaSelect USA

DeltaUSA National Network Statistics:

• As of December 2002 (2003 statistic not yet available), DeltaUSA provided dental benefits to more than 7,000 groups with more than 6.7 million primary subscribers.
• As of December 2003, DeltaPreferred Option USA (Preferred Provider Option) has 66,197 dentist locations.
• As of December 2003, DeltaCare USA has 13,015 dentist locations.
• As of December 2003, DeltaPremier USA has 141,019 dentist locations.

Organization

Delta Dental is a network of 39 independent dental Plans that conduct business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These Plans are all members of the Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA); whose mission is to help improve the overall oral health of the nation by making dental care more available and affordable to the public through the expansion of dental benefits programs. This mission is accomplished through the Plans' partnerships with their dentists and customers, resulting in real solutions to oral health care, with a focus on prevention.

The Association exists to service its Plans and enhance their ability to provide dental benefits programs to customers and subscribers. Among its many functions, DDPA fosters communication and education between Plans, establishes a corporate identity for the system, represents Delta Dental on federal legislative issues, and collaborates with other organizations in the health care and benefits industry. In addition, the Association is leading the charge in outcomes research and the analysis of the application of emerging dental science and its effects on the improvement of people's oral health.