The Principal Financial Group Reports Strong Dental Sales
June 30, 2005 (Des Moines, Iowa) — The Principal Financial Group® increased sales of its employer-sponsored group dental plans by nearly 66 percent in 2004. According to the U.S. Group Dental Plans 2004 Annual Sales & In Force report jointly published by LIMRA International and the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP) in May, The Principal® reported the largest percentage of increase to annualized premium of any carrier named in the survey. The company's success also extended to the growing voluntary dental market where The Principal increased sales by 64 percent.
Theresa McConeghey, dental product director for the Principal Financial Group, attributes much of the company's success as a dental carrier of choice to the Principal Dental Series - touted as one of the most flexible dental products offered in the marketplace. The product was introduced to marketers in the fall of 2003, and available for January 2004 sale.
"Principal Dental Series offers marketers and their clients the ability to find almost any price point within any employee benefits budget. Not only do our customers have a full spectrum of benefit ranges - including deductibles, maximums and co-insurance - but the Principal Dental Series allows them to customize the provisional levels affecting certain procedural categories such as oral surgery, endodontics and periodontics," noted McConeghey.
The Principal has also made great strides in increasing its managed care network options. "In 2002 The Principal had nearly 48,000 national providers available to our customers. Today, through the growth of the Principal Plan Dental Network (PPO) and our leasing arrangements with other managed dental care networks, we are able to provide our customers with 74,000 providers under management," said McConeghey. "It's this ongoing commitment to finding inventive products and services to help our clients meet their dental needs that's going to provide us continued success, and allow us to lead the industry for the benefit of our customers."
To learn more about dental products and services provided by the Principal Financial Group, visit www.principal.com.
About The Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group®
(The Principal®)1
is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $174.7 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 14.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
1) "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
2) As of March 31, 2005.
