Dental Insurance Enrollment Rising

February 19, 2025

The fully-insured segment of the U.S. dental insurance market has gained 9 million covered lives over the last five years, reversing the downward enrollment trend previously noted.  According to an analysis done by Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), utilizing the latest data from its Health Coverage Portal ^TM product, fully-insured dental plans covered 97.6 million people on December 31, 2023, up from 88.6 million on December 31, 2019. This segment of the insurance industry has a diverse competitive landscape, with the top five dental insurers covering less than 45% of the total market, in 2023. While market share has remained relatively stable for most leading plans, from 2019 to 2023, both Sun Life Financial and UnitedHealth have joined the top plans following acquisitions. The number of carriers participating in the fully-insured dental insurance market has declined from 167 in 2019 to 143 in 2023.

• Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF) gained over 3.5 million fully-insured dental members with its acquisition of DentaQuest in 2022 propelling it into the top plans for this segment. Sun Life also added 226,000 more members in 2023.
   
• UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) gained over 4.3 million dental members with its acquisition of MCNA Dental in 2020. Other UnitedHealth acquisitions include: in 2019, four dental insurers with 264,000 total covered lives; in 2020, three dental insurers with 65,000 total covered lives; and in 2021, one dental insurer with 232,000 covered lives. Additionally, from December 31, 2021, to December 31, 2023, UnitedHealth gained 463,000 more fully-insured dental members.
   
• Metropolitan Group (NYSE: MetLife, Inc., MET) reported the largest year-over-year membership gain between 2022 and 2023, with over 981,000 new fully-insured dental members. It offers dental plans under four subsidiaries: Metropolitan Life, Delaware American Life, Safeguard Health Plans, and Met Life. As of December 31, 2023, nearly 9.3 million (98%) of Metropolitan’s 9.5 million dental members are insured through Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
   
• Dentegra, with approximately 10.9 million fully-insured dental members, has been the leading dental insurance company in the United States for over ten years. In 2023, the company’s market share of 11% is down from 13%, in 2020.
   
• Dentegra, Renaissance Health Services, and other specialty insurers cover 67% of the dental insurance market, down from 74% in 2021; while medical plans, who offer dental products in their portfolios, cover the other 33%. Dentegra and Renaissance Health Services have subsidiaries involved with the Delta Dental Plans Association, a network of 39 independent Delta Dental companies operating in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories.

About the Data

The data used in this analysis was obtained from Mark Farrah Associates' Health Coverage Portal™ database. Findings reflect enrollment reported by carriers with business in the U.S. and U.S. territories. Data sources include the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the California Department of Managed Health Care (CA DMHC) statutory filings. These sources exclude enrollment from self-insured dental plans. For this analysis, Guardian Life’s dental enrollment was estimated for 2021 and 2022; during those years, the company reported dental enrollment combined with “Other” ancillary insurance products for one of its subsidiaries.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Our product portfolio includes Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, 5500 Employer Health ^PLUS, and Health Plans USA™. For more information about these products, refer to the informational videos and brochures available under the Our Products section of the website or call 724-338-4100.

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