One of the largest insurers in the world is returning to the group dental insurance market.
Prudential Financial Inc., Newark, N.J., is filing for permission to sell group dental insurance in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia.
Prudential says it will begin quoting preferred provider and indemnity plans in about 10 states by June 30, and hopes to be quoting in most other states by year-end.
Prudential will start by marketing dental coverage through a team of 70 small-group representatives to brokers that serve employers with 25 to 1,000 employees, according to Andrew Mako, a senior vice president in Prudential's group insurance business.
Later, 71 account executives, regional sales managers, account managers and national sales directors who handle midsize and large groups will start selling Prudential dental coverage to larger employers, Mako says.
"We intend to make it a big part of our portfolio," Mako says. "We view it as a lead product."
Prudential was once a major player in the group health and group dental markets.
When it sold its group health business to Aetna Inc., Hartford, in 1999, it also sold its dental business.
But Prudential found when it talked to employers that "a lot of people still thought we were in the dental business," Mako says.
The reps who sell Prudential life and disability products asked the company to offer a dental plan, because "they believe it gives them a leg up with many brokers," Mako says.
