Unum Partners With United Concordia for New Dental Offering

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- This is news that makes us smile.

Unum (NYSE: UNM) is pleased to announced that it will soon offer dental benefits, thanks to a partnership with United Concordia. The partnership unites two employee benefit market leaders – both with a focus on product innovation and world-class customer service – to provide group dental benefits aligned with Unum's other financial protection benefits.

"Dental is one of the most popular employee benefits and is an essential piece of a comprehensive employee benefits plan," said Unum President and CEO Kevin McCarthy. "We're extremely excited to integrate dental insurance as a complement to our other employee benefits, including short term and long term disability, life and voluntary benefits."

Unum Dental will offer flexible plan designs that include access to United Concordia's Advantage Plus network, one of the nation's largest dental provider networks with more than 73,000 unique dentists at over 149,000 access points.

"This strategic partnership plays a pivotal role in giving us the distribution capacity needed to add significantly more lives," said Daniel Lebish, chairman and chief executive officer for United Concordia. "The growth that will come from this relationship will help United Concordia become even more price and cost competitive, further strengthening our position as a leader in the dental industry."

Unum will launch the new dental offering in its Washington, D.C., market beginning in the fall of 2011. Additional markets will be added throughout 2012.

About Unum

Unum (www.unum.com) is one of the leading providers of employee benefits products and services in the United States and the United Kingdom. Through its subsidiaries, Unum Group paid approximately $6 billion in total benefits to customers in 2010.

About United Concordia

United Concordia is one of the nation's leading national dental carriers, licensed in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The company delivers high-quality, cost-effective dental programs to more than 8 million group and individual members at over 149,000 access points nationwide. For more information about United Concordia products, visit www.UnitedConcordia.com.

SOURCE United Concordia