I’ll spare the details, but went to a dentist (1st time there) and I mentioned some work I wanted done and they have me a quote and I paid it that day. Got the work done, great job, but now like 5 months later they are coming back to me asking for another payment because my insurance didn’t cover what they thought they would. Now that’s ok, but it has been close to half a year since the work was done. Is this normal? I feel like the transaction was done and any discrepancies should’ve been taken care of months ago. Do I just pay it, or is someone trying to get one on me?
It’s not normal, usually it only takes a couple weeks for them to tell you about unexpected out of pocket cost. before you pay anything double check your personal records and your insurance.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much if insurance says you shouldn’t have to pay anything. If they keep contacting you tell them to take it up with the insurance agency, but they’ll probably just sell the debt to a collection agency. If they haven’t reported it already than pay it, if they already reported it than I’d just ignore it unless it’s a large amount, no one’s going to take you to court over a couple hundred bucks.
Don’t pay. Call your insurance. If something wasn’t covered it is likely you won’t be responsible if the dentist office didn’t inform you snd get your signature agreeing.
Well, you still owe it. Doesn’t matter if it’s six months later. The dentist did the work, and I presume you were informed that the figure they gave you was only an estimate of what insurance might pay. I work in a dental office, and you wouldn’t believe the hoops we have to jump through just to get the insurance to pay on a legitimate claim. Half the time they reject the claim and ask for more information like x-rays and periodontal charting. Then we sent that in and they still rejected based on some BS reason.
It isn’t uncommon for reviews and negotiations between providers and insurance to take several months. Sometimes they are asking more info or recoding etc. One of the forms you probably signed or was hanging in the waiting room likely stated that filing insurance was being done as a courtesy and any difference would be owed. If not, the dentist would be more likely to require full payment and refund you the difference when insurance paid.
Yeah while it’s a business practice that makes me raise an eye (if they take that long, what else do they lag on?), it’s not unethical or unheard of. Some really good dentists like to take the 69$ loss, some charge it, and some take a long time with the billing and charge it. My therapist does all her billing herself so I expect a longer turnaround with her stuff. If you like them otherwise, might as well pay
Your insurance company likely took forever to pay. You should have gotten an eob in the mail from your insurance company. Look at that, it will tell you what you need to know.
Many thanks for sharing this well put together webpage.
www
It’s truly a great and useful piece of info. I’m glad that you
shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up
to date like this. Thank you for sharing.