Screen Actors Guild Finds Delta Dental Keeps Members Smiling Nationwide

Good dental health is an important part of overall wellness. Dental benefits are a proven means of making it easier for people to obtain the dental care they need to keep their smiles healthy. For that reason, an increasing number of organizations are adding dental coverage to their benefits packages.

The Screen Actors Guild, a labor union representing more than 90,000 actors, recognizes the value of dental care and makes comprehensive dental coverage available to its members. "Dental benefits are a critical part of a health care package, especially for actors, whose appearance can be almost as important to their careers as their health," explains Bruce Dow, chief executive officer of the Screen Actors Guild Health Plan.

With members in all 50 states, the Screen Actors Guild needed a dental plan administrator with a strong presence in California - where half of its members reside - that also offers coverage nationally. Finding a carrier that could serve members equally well in all states was a challenge, according to Dow. The Guild also required a dental carrier with a strong national network of dentists and a stellar reputation for quality.

To keep its performers smiling, the Guild chose the Delta Preferred Option USA plan through DeltaUSA, the national accounts program for Delta Dental Plans Association.

"Quality was a critical component for us. We chose Delta Dental because they are a very visible, high-quality system with a high level of acceptance that can deliver in all 50 states," Dow said.

Delta Dental - which has contracts with 94 percent of the dentists in California and nearly 75 percent of the dentists across the United States - was a perfect match for the Screen Actors Guild. Delta's dentist network in New York, another key area for the Guild, exceeds 6,000 dentists.

Nationwide, DeltaUSA contracts with dentists at more than 124,000 practice locations. The Delta Preferred Option USA program has more than 10,000 dentists in California and more than 54,000 dentists nationwide.

The Screen Actors Guild also wanted an economical dental insurance program. Delta Dental met this criterion. "Costs came out less than what we had projected for claims paid during the first few years of the contract," said Scott Syring of Delta Dental Plan of California, which employs DeltaUSA to administer the Delta Preferred Option USA national dental benefits program for Guild members nationwide.

"DeltaUSA provides convenience and access to quality dental care across the country, and that's what promoting oral health from a benefits standpoint is all about," Syring said.

"We like that our participants don't have to fill out claim forms or pay out of pocket for the covered portion of services while they wait to be reimbursed," Dow said. "And Delta Dental has a really good Web site, which makes it easy for our members to find dentists and to do some research before selecting one."

Yet another reason DeltaUSA has been able to serve the Screen Actors Guild so well is the strong relationships between Delta Dental Plan of California and the Screen Actors Guild Health Plan representatives.

"We're on the same wavelength and really understand each other. That means we can give them superior service," said Syring.

DeltaUSA is a separately incorporated affiliate of Delta Dental Plans Association that enables Delta Dental Plans to administer and deliver its national dental program. Based in Oak Brook, IL, Delta Dental Plans Association is a national network of independently operated not-for-profit dental service corporations specializing in providing dental benefits programs to 42 million Americans in more than 75,000 employer groups throughout the country.