Dental Insurers Post Membership Gains; Delta Nabs Top Spot

Delta Dental of California catapulted to the top spot thanks to nabbing several big clients and integrating a subsidiary, according to this week’s Business Journal list of Orange County’s top dental insurers.

The 13 dental health maintenance and preferred provider organizations grew their memberships 10% to 1.8 million people during the past 12 months.

Estimates were made for six insurers.

San Francisco-based Delta Dental posted the biggest gain.

Delta’s OC enrollment shot up 50% to 477,919 members, bumping it up a spot to No. 1.

Delta’s growth came from a couple of things. One was adding a large, “family entertainment client,” said Steve Spigarelli, Delta’s director of Southern California sales and top local official. He declined to name the company.

Delta’s current membership figures also now include PMI Dental Health Plan, a Cerritos-based business unit that ranked No. 8 on last year’s list. PMI and Delta combined on Jan. 1. PMI had been operating under a separate healthcare plan license, even though it was bought by Delta back in 1985. It offered the DeltaCare prepaid dental plan in California.

Delta’s surge took it past longtime leader Aliso Viejo-based SafeGuard Dental and Vision. SafeGuard, fell to No. 2 with 460,812 local members. SafeGuard’s figures were estimated at 400,000 local enrollees last year.

SafeGuard had posted a large enrollment gain a couple of years ago after it bought the dental and vision HMO membership from GE Wellness Dental