Relief for Large Group Dental Benefit Customers

Protecting smiles is our top priority, which is why we want to help our partners maintain a valued benefit for their employees.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and consistent with guidance issued by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, Flagship is making several options available to help your business through this unprecedented time. The relief outlined in this notice applies to all fully insured groups with 51 or more employees.

Grace period for a lapse in premium payment

To support our customers during the challenging days ahead, for a 90-day period, from April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020, Flagship will not terminate any dental benefit contract for non-payment as long as you meet the eligibility criteria listed below. If you are having issues with meeting premium payments due to COVID-19, please contact your Account Executive.

• To be eligible for this grace period, you must be a customer in good standing and current on all contract charges payable or owed as of March 1, 2020. If you are a new customer whose first contract payment would have been due and payable either in April or May, in order to be eligible for any grace period, you will have to make full payment for the first month of the dental benefit contract.


• To be eligible for this grace period, we may require you to show that the request for the grace period is due to a COVID-19-related financial or physical impact. We may require an attestation from a senior financial officer or a certified public accountant attesting to financial hardship due to COVID-19, thereby making it difficult to meet contract payment obligations.


• Even if you have not been able to meet your contract payments during this time, your contract will remain in force, capitation and specialty claims will not be pended, and Flagship will continue to pay all covered benefits for your covered employees and dependents through June 30, 2020.


• During the grace period, we will not report late payments to any collection or credit reporting agencies.


• Starting July 1, 2020, you have the option of paying the unpaid contract charges from the grace period over the remaining term of your contract or in six monthly installments (if six months are remaining in the contract term), as long as your contract remains in-force. The amounts you owe that accumulated during the grace period will be in addition to your regular monthly contract charge payments.


• Monthly contract payments and deferred contract installment payments for July through December 2020 must be paid on the respective due dates to avoid delinquency, contract termination, collections, or reporting to a credit reporting agency.

Relaxation of Actively at Work, Active Work, and Full-Time Work Requirements

We understand that, during this public health emergency declaration, some of your employees may be absent from work due to a health-related reason, temporary lay-off, or furlough. As long as we continue to receive the applicable contract payment, we will continue providing dental benefits to the temporarily laid-off or furloughed employee.

We also understand that, during the emergency declaration, some employees may no longer be working full-time and instead may be working reduced hours. As long as the employee was enrolled before April 1, 2020, we are able to continue providing dental benefits and are able to relax the full-time work requirement.

2020 Renewals

Any group customer whose renewal date is March 1, 2020 until expiration of New Jersey’s emergency declaration shall be eligible for renewal of their dental benefit contract. We will work with you in the event you are not able to adhere to the contractual renewal notice time frames and need additional time to respond to our renewal notice. If you need more time, please contact your Account Executive.

Termination

While these relief measures are intended to assist you in continuing to provide dental benefits to your covered employees and dependents, should you wish to terminate your dental benefit contract, you must provide us with written notice of termination prior to the renewal date and in accordance with the terms of your dental benefit contract. Please send us a letter indicating the reason for the termination and termination date. If you have secured other coverage, we would appreciate you providing that information as well.


Please contact your Account Executive to learn more.

Download Relief Document