Effective May 1, 2012, Met Life became the dental carrier for the TRICARE Dental Program (TDP). At this time, MetLife will provide dental coverage to over 2 million family members of uniformed service active duty personnel, members of the Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve, their eligible family members and survivors. The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) is included in this coverage audience. In light of this announcement, many officers have been inquiring as to how this change effects their coverage, benefits and so forth.

In short, the dental program for active duty officers of the USPHS will remain exactly the same. There will not be any change in benefits whatsoever.

For USPHS dependents, the dental carrier and associated coverage will change from United Concordia to Met Life. If you have dependents currently enrolled and covered by United Concordia, I recommend contacting the current dental provider to see if they will accept MetLife dental insurance beginning May 1, 2012. If they will, no further action should be necessary at the present time. If they will not, you may want to search for a dental treatment facility that will accept MetLife insurance since dependents will not be covered by United Concordia beyond April 30, 2012.

Additional information about the contract is available online at www.tricare.mil/TDPcontract and benefit updates can be found at www.tricare.mil.

Information about MetLife products and services can be obtained by visiting http://www.metlife.com/tricare/index.html#welcome or calling 1-800-MET-LIFE to speak to a customer service agent.

CAPT Michael Arnold is the Point of Contact for the TRICARE Service. He can be reached by phone at (301) 427-3256 or by email at Michael.Arnold@PCS.HHS.Gov.