On Monday, Humana Inc. (HUM) announced the launch of a new dental insurance plan – HumanaOne Dental Loyalty Plus Plan – aimed toward individuals who do not have any dental coverage, such as retirees, self-employed people and individuals who do not get dental insurance coverage from their employers.
The plan will reward policyholders for long-term enrollments by providing incremental coverage in the second and third years. From the third year onwards, Humana will provide maximum coverage of 100% for most preventive services, 70% for basic services (such as fillings, extractions and x-rays) and 50% for major services (such as root canals, dentures and crowns). Moreover, the policyholders will not be required to make any copayments for the preventive services.
In a separate development, Humana announced its plan to hire new employees in its Humana Cares division in Florida. Accordingly, Humana Cares will employ 149 new care managers, social workers, community health educators, referral specialists and health coaches, including 84 registered nurses with a minimum work experience of three years.
The workforce expansion will take the total head count of Humana Cares to 1,450, over 7 times the initial employee base of 200 in February 2009, when the division was created. Humana has been steadily increasing the personnel at Humana Cares in order to manage the rising membership of its national chronic care management programs. Humana Cares offers care management services to over 185,000 chronically ill people.
Earlier, in July 2011, Humana had announced its plan to hire 200 full-time employees, including customer care specialists and front-line supervisors, at its national Medicare service operations center in Tampa Bay.
Again, in August 2011, Humana had announced its plan to employ 300 new registered nurses, social workers and community health educators in Humana Cares. Later, in September 2011, Humana also disclosed its plans of adding 200 new full-time employees at the company’s National Medicare service center in Louisville.
Humana Inc. is one of the largest health care plan providers in the U.S. and competes with companies like WellPoint Inc. (WLP) and Aetna Inc. (AET). Currently, the company carries a Zacks #2 Rank (short-term Buy rating) supported by a long-term Outperform recommendation.
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