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HR recommends Delta Dental as GermantownBoardofEducation's voluntary dental carrier
Summary
At its March work session, HR recommended the Germantown Municipal School District accept Delta Dental's voluntary dental-insurance proposal, citing the lowest proposed premium increase (about 13%), a three-year rate guarantee and broader dentist network access; the change would take effect Sept. 1.
HR representative Miss Stratton recommended that the Germantown Municipal School District accept Delta Dental's response to the district's January request for proposals for voluntary dental insurance.
Miss Stratton told the board that the district received three submissionsfrom Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Delta Dental and the district's current provider, MetLife. All three proposed premium increases; Blue Cross's bid showed the largest increase (roughly 26%), MetLife proposed about a 20% increase and Delta Dental proposed about a 13% increase from current rates. Miss Stratton said Delta Dental also offered a three-year rate guarantee, with a 5% cap on years four and five, while MetLife offered only a one-year guarantee and Blue Cross offered two years with a 5% cap on a third year.
"We believe that the stability of the new rates over a 3 year period being proposed by Delta Dental, a dentist network that has historically been satisfactory for our employees, and the lowest premium rate increase out of all of the responders justifies this switch to a new dental insurance provider," Miss Stratton said.
She noted that GMSD's voluntary dental benefit is paid entirely by employees and covers employees, their family members and qualifying retirees. HR relayed employee feedback that many current dentists do not participate in the MetLife network, forcing some staff members to pay out-of-pocket network fees to keep their preferred providers. Miss Stratton said the recommended Delta Dental base plan would increase employee-only premiums by $2.24 per paycheck and employee-plus-family premiums by $6.72 per paycheck; the buy-up plan would rise by $3.23 per paycheck for employee-only and $9.70 per paycheck for employee-plus-family.
Board members asked whether the proposals were an apples-to-apples comparison and whether coverage changes were guaranteed; Miss Stratton confirmed the RFP required matched coverage and said the Delta Dental proposal would maintain current coverage for at least three years. She also told the board the recommended carrier would take effect Sept. 1, when the district's plan year begins.
There was no formal vote recorded during the work session; staff presented the recommendation and answered board questions. The districtHR office will follow the board's procurement and approval process to finalize any contract or purchase agreement.
