Delta Dental Renews Major Federal Contract

October 3, 2007 (Okemos, Mich.) — Delta Dental of California (DDCA) along with its partner, Delta Dental of Michigan (DDMI), were recently awarded a new five-year contract to continue to administer the TRICARE Retiree Dental Program (TRDP) for the U.S. Department of Defense. The dental plan is available to over five million uniformed services retirees and their families.

DDCA is the principal administrator of the dental plan and subcontracts with DDMI for technical support and services. DDMI serves as the system integrator for the account, providing enrollment functions, billing and claims processing operations, and data management. In addition, DDMI provides 24/7 online information access for TRDP benefit administrators and enrollees through its suite of online toolkits.

DDMI has been partnering with Delta Dental of California on federal government business since 1986 and specifically the TRDP program since 1998. With current enrollment of over one million retirees and family members, the TRDP is already the nation’s largest voluntary, all-enrollee-paid dental program.

“We are pleased to again be selected to provide benefits administration for a comprehensive Delta Dental plan that serves our retired armed services personnel and their families,” said Thomas J. Fleszar, D.D.S., M.S., chief executive officer and president of DDMI.

The TRDP, authorized by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1997, offers affordable dental benefits as a voluntary option to the nation’s uniformed services retirees and their family members. The new contract becomes effective on October 1, 2008.

The new contract includes enhanced benefits, including certain implant services at 50 percent of allowable charges, an increase in the orthodontic lifetime maximum from $1,200 to $1,500, and 80 percent coverage for certain posterior composite restorations.

The TRDP will continue as a national, combined fee-for-service/preferred provider program that offers enrollees access to any licensed dentist in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Canada. While enrollees may seek care from any licensed dentist in the service area, optimal benefits will be available to those enrolled retirees and their family members who choose a Delta Dental participating network dentist.

Delta Dental offers the largest networks of dentists in the nation. Its fee-for-service (Delta Dental Premier) network offers more than 121,000 individual participating dentists in over 174,000 office locations. The preferred provider (Delta Dental PPO) network includes over 60,000 individual dentists in more than 97,000 office locations.

During the new contract period, the TRDP is expected to be extended to new overseas locations, matching as closely as possible the same benefits as those offered within the U.S. and its territories.

As with current TRDP, eligible retirees and their family members can find answers to their questions about the program as well as enroll using Delta Dental’s dedicated TRDP Web site at www.trdp.org or by calling the toll-free number at 1-888-838-8737.

Delta Dental of Michigan and Delta Dental of California are members of the national Delta Dental Plans Association, which is comprised of 39 independent plans that collectively cover approximately 50 million Americans. Both plans are also ISO 9001 certified – an international standard of excellence and quality.

Delta Dental of Michigan, with its affiliates in Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee, make up one of the largest dental plan administrators in the nation. In 2006, the enterprise paid more than $1.7 billion for dental care for more than 6.2 million enrollees. Offices are located in Okemos and Farmington Hills, Mich.; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis and Greenwood, Ind.; and Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, Tenn.