"Ameritas is excited to work with BenefitPoint in delivering our quality dental products. We believe that eBusiness solutions are an important part of our overall business strategy. Our relationship with BenefitPoint will enable us to be competitive in the electronic marketplace and further enhance our sales and marketing efforts for Group Dental," said David Moore, LLIF, president of Ameritas Group Dental Division. "BenefitPoint provides Ameritas with an excellent opportunity to directly reach and serve broker/consultants and employers."

The BenefitPoint application connects insurance carriers, broker/consultants, employers and employees via a common Internet-based platform. This allows all participants in the distribution chain to access and communicate current and accurate employee and benefits plan information. With benefits transactions taking place online, much of the paperwork, spread sheeting, and risk of incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete data, is greatly reduced; and the speed and efficiency of the whole process is greatly increased.

"Ameritas Dental is recognized nationally for the quality of its dental insurance solutions and excellent customer service and support. We are delighted that the company has selected BenefitPoint as its eCommerce partner," said Mark A. Pulido, chairman, president and chief executive officer of BenefitPoint. "We look forward to enabling Ameritas with the BenefitPoint technology solution to create efficiencies and enhance its leadership role in the dental insurance industry."

To support its growing eBusiness focus, Ameritas Group Dental has developed a new employee unit to handle electronic requests for proposals and to ensure they are quickly returned to broker/consultants. "Through each contact experience with our customers, our goal as a company is to deliver high-quality service along with efficient and appropriate responses to requests, questions, or concerns. We believe that the BenefitPoint platform will greatly enhance our ability to do that," Moore explained.

Ameritas Group Dental's decision to partner with BenefitPoint and its more than 120 large brokerage and consulting firms is further confirmation that insurance carriers are now ready to distribute their products and services on a common eCommerce platform. By leveraging the BenefitPoint solution, carriers will enjoy more efficient product distribution through the existing channel, increased brand awareness, and ongoing efficiencies in sales, marketing and case processing which result in net savings.

About Ameritas Group Dental
Ameritas Group Dental - http://www.YourDentalSolutions.com is a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. (est. 1887), an Ameritas Acacia Company, offering group dental and vision products nationwide. In New York, products are offered through First Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York. Ameritas' complete line of flexible and affordable dental solutions includes managed care, traditional indemnity, small group and voluntary products. Ameritas also offers expertise in dental block consolidation, partnering with companies that wish to exit the dental marketplace, improve the financial performance of their existing dental business, or diversify their product line and boost sales through the addition of Ameritas' enhanced dental product portfolio. Other Ameritas Acacia products and services include life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, banking, retirement strategies and investments.

About BenefitPoint, Inc.
BenefitPoint, Inc., delivers the leading Internet-based employee benefits infrastructure for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products. As the central nervous system of the employee benefits industry, BenefitPoint provides a complete set of B2B services enabling benefits professionals to manage the entire group health insurance and benefits lifecycle. Building on the existing industry relationships among carriers, brokers, employers, and employees, the BenefitPoint solution combines the efficiency of the Internet with the established distribution model of the insurance industry to eliminate paper (saving everyone time and money), to make it possible to deliver more products and services (giving everyone more choices), and to make better information available (enabling everyone to make better decisions).

Since general availability in February 2000, BenefitPoint has received widespread industry adoption from regional and national insurance carriers as well as from more than 120 of the leading U.S.-based brokerage and consulting firms. The company, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at 415.277.5600 or at www.benefitpoint.com. BenefitPoint, Inc. is privately held.