KANSAS CITY, Mo.--Assurant Employee Benefits is providing dental plan members with online access to dental plan coverages, the costs of certain procedures and to dentists for questions about dental health.
"Dental coverage is among the most popular employee benefits because people really want to take care of their teeth," said James Gimarelli, DMD, vice president of dental at Assurant Employee Benefits. "This new feature provides a convenient and powerful dental health tool at no additional cost."
Online Advantage for Members, the latest expansion of the company's industry-leading benefit management tool Online Advantage, enables plan members to make informed choices about dental health care. According to Gimarelli, this extension of the capabilities of Online Advantage gives dental plan members direct access to information and the opportunity to engage in direct dialogue with both dentists.
"We believe Online Advantage is one of the most useful and user-friendly administrative tools in the industry for brokers and employers," Gimarelli said. "Because we encourage employee empowerment and employee choice, it is only natural to extend the tool to direct employee usage as well.
Research has shown that the majority of consumers who discuss the results of their online searches with their care providers experience more constructive consultations."
Online Advantage for Members offers these services:
* Ask a dentist -- Members can e-mail a question regarding dental procedures or dental health care and receive a personal response from a Dentistat-Certified dentist.
* Dental fee cost estimator -- Members search for average dental fee information to use as a benchmark.
* Dental health center -- Members have access to dental health care information and how it relates to general health, promoting preventive wellness.
* Dental benefit plan information -- Members can view dental plan description, deductibles, maximums and claims information.
Dental plan members already are saying they appreciate the capabilities of the new Web site.
"I reviewed your site for the first time, and just wanted to say thanks!" emailed a dental member. "It's easy to navigate, with lots of good information and I found everything I was looking for."
Online Advantage for Members helps plan members find conveniently located dentists both in-network and out-of-network. Members can have an added level of confidence when they choose an out-of-network dentist thanks to an association between Assurant Employee Benefits and Dentistat, a service that specializes in utilization management based on the largest independent claims database in the United States.
Dentistat-Certified dentists are a select group of 80,000 non-network providers that Dentistat has screened, sanction-checked and certified for cost-effective treatment patterns, which is of particular value to members who live in geographic areas with few or no preferred provider organizations.
The Web page for Online Advantage for Members is assurant.go2dental.com/content.
Assurant Employee Benefits specializes in quality employee benefits and services, including long-term and short-term disability, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, dental coverage, and disability reinsurance management services.
Assurant Employee Benefits also offers voluntary (employee-paid) disability, life and dental plans. Products and services marketed by Assurant Employee Benefits are underwritten or provided by Union Security Insurance Company, Union Security Life Insurance Company of New York, or an affiliated prepaid dental company.
Plans contain limitations and exclusions. Underwriting flexibility allows Assurant Employee Benefits to market tailor-made benefit plans for groups of most any size.
Assurant Employee Benefits, located in Kansas City, Mo., is available on the Web at www.assurantemployeebenefits.com.
