The TRICARE Dental Program is a voluntary dental insurance program that is offered to family members of active duty as well as Reserve Component personnel and their families that has historically been administered by United Concordia Companies, Inc.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company will begin administering the program May1. UCCI and MetLife have been working together to provide a seamless transition for the beneficiaries.
The Active Duty Dental Program is still being administered by UCCI and will not be changing in May.
Some of the key benefit changes with MetLife are an increased annual maximum to $1,300; an increased lifetime orthodontic maximum to $1,750; a new annual accident coverage maximum of $1,200; coverage for posterior composite restorations and a third cleaning covered during pregnancy.
“I really like the increase to $1750 for the orthodontic lifetime maximum,” said Major Aimee Zakaluzny, current 95th Dental Flight commander and who is headed for an orthodontic residency in July.
In addition to new and increased benefits, the monthly premiums will be reduced. No action by enrollees will need to be completed to switch premiums to MetLife if their premiums are paid via an allotment as shown on their Leave and Earnings Statement. The few people who pay premiums with a monthly check or credit card will need to contact MetLife to make arrangements for premium payments between March 21 and April 20 for coverage beginning in May.
MetLife’s dental network is almost 70,000 dentists (almost half of all U.S. dentists) and is larger than UCCI’s network. To maximize the benefits of the program, it is recommended that a network provider be chosen.
With the exception of orthodontics, if dental work is in progress that will span the 1 May MetLife start date, it is recommended to inform the dentist as he/she may not be in both the UCCI and MetLife networks. If they are not in the MetLife network, any claims for work completed on or after the 1 May start date will need to be sent to MetLife. For beneficiaries using orthodontists on the UCCI plan who do not plan on signing with Metlife, Metlife will continue to make payments to the provider for the duration of treatment, but at the increased maximum amount.
The MetLife website is https://mybenefits.metlife.com/Tricare. The CONUS customer service number is 1-855-638-8371 and the OCONUS number is 1-855-638-8372.
