Question on fee

Joined
Jul 25, 2016
Messages
1
Hi,

I recently had an inlay with porcelain. On the day, I was charged $150 and thought that was it. But 1 month later, I received a statement with $700 to pay more! Apparently, my insurance fully paid only $80, which I understand because they cover only what would have cost for amalgam. What I don't understand is why did my dentist not tell me beforehand that it would cost so much? Why did he not get a preapproval by the insurance like he did for my deep cleaning, which after all I did not get? Had I known the cost, I would not have this treatment done because my tooth was not bothering me! All he told me was because I had a gold, it would be better to replace with porcelain (btw there was some crack). I feel like I am ripped off! Is there anything I can do for this situation? Thank you.

Smartbrain
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Messages
96
Sorry I don't know. Conventional advice I see is the only thing you can do is fight billing errors (e.g. wrong codes or services). However the undisclosed fees stick if you'd already signed a contract agreeing to them AFAIK).

In the future never sign a contract saying you're responsible to pay undisclosed medical expenses. Look over any contracts you've signed with this office. Require exact quotes at time of service. Industry practice is to obfuscate things, like saying they don't know or it's too hard for them to do the math, tell them to do it or you do not agree to any service and will leave. Require up front the costs and a bill saying zero further patient liability. If they don't accept these terms, do not accept their service. Read carefuly everything they ask you to sign, and never sign such open ended contracts. If they (or a third party) send future undisclosed fees regarding this service you can ignore them, since you've already paid for the services rendered in full.

There are some consumer protections against such undisclosed fee practices under certain conditions in certain states (in NY and Florida only AFAIK).

I'm sorry, this is from my understanding the way it is at this time in the U.S. Perhaps in the future through case law or legislation it will be made illegal.

P.s. that gold crown is yours. I hope you didn't let him have it and instead took it to a gold shop to sell. At $1400/oz gold that would've gone a decent way towards your current issue.
 

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