Vermont Business Magazine Northeast Delta Dental’s ongoing support of businesses and nonprofits negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily focused on advancing the oral health and overall wellness of its customers and the public. President & CEO, Tom Raffio, said, “We’re committed to thoughtfully and methodically providing forms of relief to our stakeholders and our communities that would be most beneficial to them, with their safety and health uppermost in our considerations. None of the related costs were passed along to them.”
Northeast Delta Dental will provide relief totaling $18.8 million in returned and reduced premiums to individual and group customers by: extending rate holds for fully insured individual and group customers renewing July through December, 2020; crediting all fully insured individual and group customers with a one-month dental premium in July based on June’s billed amount; and crediting all self-insured group customers for the July administrative fee. It will help the producers and consultants who market its dental insurance by providing relief payments totaling $700,000 for the premium/administrative credit period based on commissions paid for the previous month.
Early in the crisis, Northeast Delta Dental also provided two forms of financial relief totaling $4.3 million to its participating dentists, one based on procedures performed by network dentists and oral surgeons in 2019, the other on procedures performed from mid-February to mid-March, 2020. The closing of dental offices constricted the ability of patients to receive non-emergency dental procedures. To aid reopening dental offices in ensuring the safety of their staff and patients, Northeast Delta Dental invested an additional $2.7 million. With those funds more than 120,000 KN95 masks were purchased and made available to network dentists and oral surgeons. In many cases, these were personally hand-delivered by board members and employees. Also, included is a $10 reimbursement per visit to cover the cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the months of May and June.
To meet critical needs created by the COVID-19 crisis, in early March Northeast Delta Dental committed $500,000 to help organizations needing assistance. It also empowered 20 oral health programs in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to use the more than $170,000 in grants awarded to them by the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation for challenges relating to COVID-19, if needed, rather than the oral health needs described in their applications.
The Company is also honoring the many commitments it made to sponsor events, some of which were in the planning process when the ability to hold events became prohibitive. This was accomplished by Northeast Delta Dental providing funds directly to the organizations the fundraisers benefit.
About Northeast Delta Dental: As a nonprofit organization, Northeast Delta Dental administers dental benefits in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, offering dental insurance programs for organizations of all sizes, and individuals and families with no access to employer-sponsored dental benefits. Learn more at www.nedelta.com.
Source: BURLINGTON, V.T.: Northeast Delta Dental 7.2.2020