The Journey Continues

I found a new dentist and now it’s over. Just like that. They decided the best way to operate was to charge me an amount for work that wasn’t correct and couldn’t understand when I objected. They dictate terms that require patients to pay for work performed on the day of service. However, they wanted payment without knowing the actual amount of the visit. In other words, the bill was almost $80 more than it should have been.

If they had taken a few minutes to contact my insurance company, they would have had the correct rates to include on my bill. Instead, after my Explanation of Benefits arrived, I saw how much the refund was they’d be owing me, and I contacted my insurance company to get their input on all of this.

A very nice woman at my insurance company explained that all my dentist had to do was to use the toll-free number provided to him to find out what to charge me and recommended in the future that I ask for a pre-authorization for any work in excess of $300. That way, costs are known before the work is ever done and the authorization is good for twelve months at any dental office. I used to have Tricare, an insurance policy provided to veterans and their families, and it was always a pain because dentists weren’t happy about the negotiated fees. But instead of simply refusing to participate as a network dentist, which they could certainly do, they chose to be in the network, eventually committing insurance fraud when they charged more than the fee schedule permitted. Again, all they had to do if they didn’t like the fees was to write a letter and a month later, they’d be removed from the network list. No harm, no foul. But that’s not what would happen.

Nearly every staff member I spoke with in most of the dental offices I visited would swear up and down that they followed the fee schedule to the letter, that they knew of dentists who didn’t, and understood it was insurance fraud. They would look me in the eye and then proceed to lie through their proverbial teeth:

Oh, we don’t do that here. We abide by the fee schedule. That will NEVER happen here.

Right. Except for a couple of dentists over the years, it happened at most of the dental offices I used. When it did, I would try someone else, but eventually, it got old. I stopped going to the dentist around two years ago because of the endless bullshit I faced. And then the most amazing thing happened. Tricare went away and I suddenly had access to insurance plans offered by the federal government.

So, I chose my plan, and contacted a new dentist. I thought this was going to work, but then I sat down at the bookkeeper’s desk to pay my bill after getting a root canal and a new crown. I don’t remember even seeing a bill, and she didn’t bother to tell me that the bill would be higher than it was supposed to be. I handed her a credit card and that was it. I had no idea I had paid almost $80 more than was necessary.

When we spoke on the phone about it, the bookkeeper tried to justify the dentist’s business practice of charging more and then refunding. She had already told me that if an error was made, and I noticed it on my EOB, to contact the office and let them know if I wanted to carry it as a credit or receive a refund. And it seemed as if she was trying to say that I had agreed to the overcharge, but to be fair, the conversation took place on the speakerphone in my car, and it cut out here and there. But that’s what I thought she said. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Why would ANYONE agree to such a thing?

My husband and I live on a fixed income. Both of us have to wait until we’re 70 years old before receiving our Social Security so that we receive the maximum. You see, that’s what seniors have to consider at retirement. Can one make it if the spouse dies? Will there be enough funds to draw on when a 401K doesn’t exist? So, to be overcharged for a dental procedure doesn’t work for most people. No patient should be expected to pay more and then wait to get reimbursed after the insurance company pays the dentist. Because, what if the patient doesn’t notice? How many actually read their Explanation of Benefits and then compare it to their bill? I always have, but for those who don’t, will the dental office notify them of the overage? Or do they keep it as a credit if the patient doesn’t notice?

Yeah…not happening.

After our conversation on Monday, said bookkeeper contacted me telling me that she refunded my money and that they would prefer that I find another dentist. I had another crown scheduled that very day and the remainder of a cleaning I had scheduled next week. Supposedly, I have lots of problems, but because I won’t cooperate with their overcharging me, I have to go away.

Now, going somewhere else was in the back of my mind anyway, in the event we couldn’t work this out, but they struck first and now I’m again without a dentist, with lots of so-called problems that now I’m on my own with. No sense of responsibility, no apology, nothing.

I wasn’t going to write about this, but on the off-chance that others are experiencing this, I just wanted to give my take on what happened. Honestly, this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever had this happen to me. I checked with others I know, and they’ve not experienced it either. So, if this is a new trend out there with dentists, we need to pay attention and refuse to cooperate with it.

I prefer to have consistency in my health care. I’ve had to leave my rheumatologist because she won’t support my using cannabis and herbal formulas to treat my rheumatoid arthritis that has been in clinical remission since 2011. No symptoms, but she wants me back on Humira which I refuse to do. So, I’m on my own again there which is fine. There are plenty of naturopaths in the area if I need to see someone. And there’s always Planned Parenthood for wellness checks.

It would have been nice to have found a home at this dental office, but apparently, that’s not going to happen. And if you want to know the truth, if this is how they do business, then it’s possible that I dodged a bullet. I don’t understand this lack of integrity, though. I even shared some of the experiences I’ve had that I found problematic with the bookkeeper, yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell me that I wasn’t out of the woods yet.

It’s a shame, really, because he seems like a really good dentist. He’s focused and he appears to do a really great job. It’s sad that he allows all of that to be diminished by his business practices.

So, I guess my dental journey continues…

Blessed Be