Before getting my teeth impressions for my night (mouth) guard, my dentist noticed some "potholes" in a couple of molars and patched those ups. You could see a bit of the dentin, which was scary. It was a cost that I wasn't expected, but I managed to have enough in my emergency fund to handle it.
With my nightguard, the office wanted a deposit for $200. I told her that I didn't have that much. Instead, I managed to put down a deposit of $68 dollars. It costs well over $400 for it. I frankly feel that the restorations and cleaning are my down payment, along with being a patient for nearly two decades.
I'm not a fan of paying up first. I frankly feel that the office is making sure that it gets paid immediately and inconveniencing customers. I learned that I don't need to file the claim myself -- that the office still does it. It doesn't jive with the woman's explanation when I pressed her about it last week. She said that the office was short-staffed. Yet, you can still file claims on behalf of your patients. Interesting...
I dislike policies that only make sense to a business and don't benefit patients.
I work with a lot of third party administrators with regards to patients' claims. And I find that they're terrible meanies to the clinics, while bending over to meet the needs of the companies who pay for their employees' insurance premiums. This inevitably ends up inconveniencing not only the clinics but oftentimes also the patients as we are kind of at their mercy and sometimes this translates to lousy policies that make it difficult for our patients. I hope you get the claim filed for you in a timely manner.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insight, Fondles. Such a chain reaction when it comes to meanies out there. Now I'm thinking if the model you have mentioned is behind what my dental office and I are experiencing.
DeleteI did get my claim processed in less than a day. It was impressive. I put the money back into my emergency fund.