Summerlin Dental

So, you're saying that before I go in for a basic cleaning, I need to contact my insurance company, learn what their standards are for the different procedures, and THEN get treatment? Does ANYONE do that?

Hindsight, I should have required the dentist to do a pre-treatment auth, but they should have known to do that to assist their patient.

When the patient is told, over and over, like a broken record "it's covered" and then it's not, that's not right.

They didn't even offer to work with me on the unexpected bill.

Staff was nice and professional. Office was clean, doctor was knowledgeable.

Staff will also help you make uninformed decisions by not pre-authing treatment. Beware.

All you had to do was contact your insurance company and ask if the suggested treatment was covered under your policy before they performed it. Simple.

I assume, since you did not state otherwise, that the service(s)was successful and necessary. Paying $400 to keep your teeth is a worthwhile investment. The dentist made a mistake. People make mistakes.

You both did by not checking to make sure. When in doubt------

No, I did not contact my insurance company prior to receiving the treatment. Why would I? 3 separate people at the office told me the treatment was covered and that I qualified for it. I was very clear with the staff that I was only going to allow treatment that was covered. I made this so clear on several occasions, that they noted my account with what I had said. They KNEW that there was a difference between what I could afford, and what I needed, yet instead of putting options on the table I get, "You need this, you qualify, do this. It's covered, we promise." The fact that the office was made aware of my financial situation, and chose not to pre-auth is *** customer service.

I guess the mistake I made was trusting that 3 people at the office (including the dentist) weren't *** me. The lesson I learned here is that whenever a doctor/dentist recommends a treatment, that I need to have the pre-auth mandated. This was a completely avoidable problem had the staff done the right thing with the information they were given.

Additionally, I did not mention the necessity or success of the treatment because that is not relevant to my primary complaint. They said one thing, and did another, and now I am stuck with a bill that I was simply not prepared and thoroughly explained that I could not afford.

Obviously the staff was told that the procedure would be covered by your insurance. Why would 3 people say otherwise?

Also, don't you think that what every person NEEDS and what they can AFFORD are two seperate things? Come on!

I can't afford Chemo but I NEED it, do I not get what is needed to treat my disease?? Sounds to me like you want to blame this on SOMEONE and you don't care how ridiculous you sound doing it!

Obviously??? Perhaps I wasn't clear.

They were NOT told that the treatment was covered. That's the point you seem to be missing. They THOUGHT it was covered and they used their own information to make the determination that the treatment wouldn't cost the patient. They told me, like a broken record, you won't get charged, it's covered, but they didn't make that statement to me based on a pre-treatment auth, they made it based on their "hunch." So I accepted treatment based on mis-information which is why I'm pissed off, and why you should be careful when going to this office.

What they SHOULD have done was said, "Since we know you can't afford to pay out of pocket for treatment, we'll pre-auth what you need through your insurance.

If it's covered, we can proceed.

If it's not, we can then discuss other options that make sense for your health and your wallet." What occurred was, "It's covered..........NO WAIT JK JK JK, HERE'S A BILL"

Comparing what I needed to chemo is...wow...you say I sound ridiculous? lol