CIGNA Dental has expanded upon its comprehensive
suite of consumer decision-support tools by launching
the Dental Plan Cost Estimator. This Web-based
tool allows prospective or existing CIGNA members
to review two or more CIGNA dental plan options
and compare costs to make an informed, value-based
decision on the dental plan that best suits their
financial and personal dental care needs.
"Because employees have different needs based
on their life stage, demographics, attitudes and
beliefs, this tool allows them to customize their
estimated costs based on anticipated treatments,
procedure name or code, or typical oral health
profiles," said Karen Rohan, president of
CIGNA Dental. Although primarily accessed during
open enrollment, employees can also use the Dental
Plan Cost Estimator in the event of a life status
change.
The Dental Plan Cost Estimator is designed to
provide an unbiased and personalized comparison
of CIGNA Dental plans that are available to individuals
whose employers offer CIGNA's dental benefit plans.
CIGNA Dental plan options include: CIGNA Dental
Care (DHMO), CIGNA Dental PPO, CIGNA Traditional,
CIGNAFlex Advantage, and CIGNA Dental Care Value
Plans.
"Online cost comparison tools are already
available with our other health care products," added
Rohan. "The Dental Plan Cost Estimator allows
us to offer such a tool to our dental members so
that they can be just as informed when making dental
benefit decisions."
How the CIGNA Dental Plan Cost Estimator
Works
During an employer's annual benefits open enrollment
period, individuals eligible for multiple CIGNA
Dental plans will be offered an ID and passcode
to access the Dental Plan Cost Estimator. Once
online, users can compare benefits between plans
and estimate their total and out-of-pocket costs
based on the CIGNA Dental plans available to them.
The tool will initially be available to employers
with 1,000+ employees with access to two or more
CIGNA Dental plans, with further expansion planned
for the future.
Dental expenditures are sometimes difficult to
pre-determine, so the CIGNA Dental Plan Cost Estimator
provides users with three options for evaluating
their dental plan offerings. These options take
into account users' differing levels of personal
oral health knowledge. For example:
- Profiles: This option is available
for those users who have a very general understanding
of their personal oral health. Users are able
to choose broad descriptions of their oral health
status for use in estimating their annual dental
plan expenses.
- Treatments: This option is
available for those users who have a greater
understanding of their dental care needs. In
order to estimate potential dental expenditures,
users have the option to choose from a list of
dental care treatments (root canal, orthodontics,
etc.) that they expect to need throughout the
year.
- Procedures: This option is
available for those users who have a very specific
understanding of their oral health and are aware
of their dental care needs for the coming year.
Users have the option to choose from a list of
dental procedures to estimate their annual dental
plan expenses.
This tool is just another example of CIGNA Dental's
commitment to consumer engagement by providing
members with online consumer decision support tools
they need to support dental care decision-making.
Also currently available to CIGNA Dental members
is the Web-based Dental Treatment Cost Estimator,
which can be accessed through the CIGNA member
portal, myCIGNA.com. Launched in early 2006, this
tool allows CIGNA Dental members to select the
procedure or treatment they are considering and
estimate what their out-of-pocket cost would be
prior to seeking care. Estimates are based on their
plan information and are adjusted for geographic
location. The member portal also allows CIGNA Dental
members to view dental health information and articles
provided by WebMD®.
About CIGNA Dental
Based in Plantation, Florida, CIGNA Dental meets
the dental coverage needs of more than 10.7 million
members, and the employer needs of more than
one-third of all Fortune 100 companies. CIGNA
Dental members access care from one of the largest
dental HMO and dental PPO networks in the U.S.,
with more than 74,500 DPPO dentists and 5,600
DHMO facilities (with 24,900 DHMO dentists).
CIGNA was one of the first insurance companies
to offer dental indemnity, introducing its first
plan in 1964, and became the first national carrier
to enter the Dental HMO market.
