Dear PCTEA Member:
Effective 01/01/2025, PCTEA will be changing our dental insurance administrator. Your dental benefits will not change; we have simply replaced Emblem Health – our current administrator – with Guardian, our new administrator.
Some questions you may have about this change:
- Why the Change?
Upon the expiration of our contract, Emblem Health dramatically increased costs to renew with them at our previous level of coverage. PCTEA has changed our dental insurance administrator in order to improve service, and to help maintain the current costs of providing these important benefits to you at no cost. An additional benefit to this change is that Guardian has a significantly wider network, so you will have many additional options for choosing your dental provider and there is a very good likelihood that your current dentist will also accept Guardian.
- What Do I Need to Do?
Nothing will be required from you at this time. You will automatically be transferred over to Guardian. You will also be receiving new dental plan ID cards in the mail to be used for any dental services you receive after 12/31/2024. Since this change is occurring at the same time as the calendar year change, it should not affect annual maximums or deductibles. In the month of January PCTEA will hold an open-enrollment to allow changes to be made to plans, and will reach out with additional information regarding this in early January.
- How do I find out if my dental provider is participating with Guardian Dental?
You can call your dentist and ask them if they participate with Guardian Dental or you can go directly to the website at guardiananytime.com to check.
- Please be sure that Talisha Colston, Benefits Manager for PCTEA, has the correct home address and email listed on file for you. Email her at [email protected] with any changes.
- There are still two different plans for dental.
The plans are identical except that one plan includes orthodontic care for dependents through the age of 19. If you are currently enrolled in the orthodontic plan and your dependents are no longer under the age of 20, please email Talisha and let her know. If you are in need of the orthodontic plan and are not currently enrolled, open enrollment is during the month of January and you can make that change during that time.
