The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) announced today a partnership with United Concordia Dental (UCD) to offer group dental benefit plans. The agreement strengthens the group dental benefits offered by Sun Life's Employee Benefits Group division by adding UCD's extensive national network of dental providers and its attractive plan designs.
The agreement enables Sun Life to offer plan sponsors a range of dental benefit options, while providing covered employees and their dependents access to high quality, cost-effective dental care services: UCD has one of the country's largest dental provider networks, comprised of more than 72,000 dentists at over 130,000 practicing locations nationwide. The plans will also offer innovative features, including incentives for preventive dental care.
"This partnership positions us to offer one of the most appealing, competitive and cost-effective group dental insurance solutions on the market," said Mike Shunney, senior vice president and general manager of Sun Life's Employee Benefits Group division. "We believe this will do more than dramatically enhance our presence in the group dental marketplace. Since dental insurance is the most popular employee health benefit after group medical coverage, our strong national sales force can use this exceptional new dental offering to also showcase our entire suite of group benefits solutions, including disability insurance, life insurance, medical stop loss, and a wide array of voluntary group benefits, one of the fastest growing sectors of the group benefits market."
"This agreement is another significant stride in United Concordia's efforts to enhance the competitiveness, financial performance and marketplace presence of our company," said Daniel Lebish, chairman and chief executive officer for United Concordia Dental. "It effectively expands our scale, and extends our reach and network size by helping us grow in areas where Sun Life markets its products. We believe this partnership brings us another step closer to our vision of becoming the nation's leading dental insurer."
Sun Life will start offering new dental business through the partnership on July 11, 2011.