Reason for Dental Coverage Change to MetLife Dental – Message from DEA President

Effective September 1st the new DEA dental provider will be MetLife Dental.

In July 2025, I notified the membership that a top to bottom review of all DEA funds, including the Health Benefit Funds, was performed. I also informed the membership that we discovered the Health Benefit Funds were operating in the red and in fiscal distress, relying on cash reserves to meet benefit expenses. (See July 2025 letter here: DEA_Dental_Benefits_7-1-25)

The Trustees of the Health Benefit Funds are legally and ethically bound in their Fiduciary capacity to take immediate action to bring expenses under control and in-line with the income of the Health Benefit Funds. It’s important to point out that dues money paid by either active members or retired lifetime members is separate and apart from our Health Benefit Funds and is not used for health benefits.

As noted in the July 2025 letter, immediate action was being taken by increasing prescription drug copays for both active and retired members. This immediate action helped to reduce expenses but did not completely close the spending gap.

Last February, we replaced Express Scripts with Capital Rx as our prescription drug manager, which helped to further close the deficit however, a deficit gap still existed and further changes were warranted.

The Cigna plan provided good dental coverage with a cost of $12.5 million dollars annually to the Fund. The Cigna’s plan was both free and unlimited, with no premiums for active and retired members. Understandably, member utilization was enormous, however our over-utilization caused significant losses to Cigna resulting in a renewal rate of an additional 220% in premium, which made the plan completely unaffordable. Renewing the Cigna plan at the elevated cost would have placed the prescription drug plan in serious jeopardy. Trustees had no choice but to explore other options that fit within the financial budget.

To emphasize the need for action by the Trustees, the Active and Retiree Health Benefit Plans receive approximately $29 Million Dollars per year from the City of New York in total. The cost of Cigna and Express Scripts was approximately $40 Million per year, which does not include expenses for optical, hearing aids, catastrophic coverages post 9-11 programs and operating overhead for the Funds.

Unfortunately, the Dental Plan changes are painful but necessary at this time and consistent with the Trustees’ fiduciary responsibility to the Fund. On a good note, our move to Capital Rx is proving to be a positive one as our prescription drug costs are decreasing. Rest assured, if the financial situation of the Health Benefit Funds improve, changes will be made to enhance the dental benefit.

Fraternally,

Scott Munro
President