Dental Benefits      

Delta Dental

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History

Delta Dental's roots go back to 1954 with the formation of dental service corporations in California, Oregon and Washington, which were created by dentists who recognized the need to increase access to oral health care. Led by Washington Dental Service (WDS), Delta Dental began by providing dental benefit programs for organized labor unions.

Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA) was created in 1966 to bring together these local state service organizations and coordinate dental benefit programs for customers with employees in multiple states. A year later, the first multi-state program was sold by WDS to the International Association of Machinists. WDS ceded the administration for enrollees in other states to other Delta Dental member companies and contracted with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association for administration in those states without a Delta Dental affiliate organization.

Coverage was provided this way until the late 1980s when the Delta Dental of California (DDCA) won the bid for the Office of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (OCHAMPUS) program. Delta Dental member companies agreed to share its provider data so the administration of this very large account could be centralized, with Delta Dental of California sharing the administrative income and risk. The OCHAMPUS program led to the creation of the National Provider File (NPF), which was made available for commercial accounts in 1990 via Delta USA – providing Delta Dental coverage to organizations with employees and subscribers located in multiple states.

Current structure

The Delta Dental system's mandate is to increase the future definition of dental benefits to improve access to dental care. It does this by encouraging the expansion of dental benefit programs administered through their 39 member companies. Delta Dental provides the means for these service corporations to cooperate in the provision of multi-state and national group dental coverage.

The headquarters of a company dictates which Delta Dental member company will provide insurance for that company. While there are only 39 member companies, every state is covered by a member company. For instance, one of the larger member companies, Delta Dental Insurance Company (DDIC), provides coverage for Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. DDIC is also affiliated with Delta Dental of California, giving them a total coverage area of 16 states and the District of Columbia. The size of a member company varies a great deal, with the largest