Do you pay at dr/dentist before you leave?

[LuluLovesDisney]

I had my wisdom tooth pulled and before I left, I was asked to pay the bill in full. The receptionist told me I could just cash the check from insurance whenever it comes in (for however much it is, which will probably be a lot less than what I paid) I was surprised because most other places have told me to wait until insurance goes through.What's the norm?

 

[windycitymom]

Funny you should mention this. My son is getting four impacted wisdom teeth out next week and I was asked to pay $410 upfront (for anesthesia). They will wait for the rest for insurance. I should get reimbursed some on the anesthesa too. Thank goodness I'm not being asked to pay in full upfront. Our regular dentist will wait for insurance - we only pay the out-of-pocket expenses which they already have it pre-determined. Our doctor co-pay is just $20 per visit. This oral surgeon is a preferred provider so he his charge will be less than if I didn't have insurance. I still think it's a scam to ask for money upfront, especially if you have insurance and they know they will get the money.

 

[rockyroad]

At our regular dentist we pay whatever is left after the insurance pays.
Sometimes I have to make several payments for expensive things like crowns.

When my daughter got her wisdom teeth out, we paid $300 upfront and the insurance paid the rest.

 

[Dina]

We have to pay the entire bill for our pediatric dentist, before we leave (I use my Disney Visa for the rewards)-- but that's the only place we do it. The insurance sends me a check later on. We only do that there because they're out of network. We don't have to pay anything for our other dentist (in network), and just $5 for doctors-- we're really lucky.

 

[momto2inKC]

For anything dental (cleanings, fillings, surgery, etc..) we have to pay 20% of the bill at the time of service, which is our portion. The insurance takes care of the other 80%.

 

[dawnball]

We paid an estimate upfront at our dentist for awhile. Then they started having us pay after insurance settled. I think some of that was that our insurance settled fairly quickly (relative to insurance at least) and that we paid promptly and in full when the bills came. The doctor seems to think that I should be paying 20% up-front, but they realized that they have no idea when I leave what the charge will be, so they've gone to sending bills also.

Given that insurance frequently takes more than a month to decide what the negotiated rates for procedures are and to send me an EOB - I don't blame them for wanting some portion upfront. Patients tend to be better about paying the charges while they're in the office than they are about mailed bills also.

 

[snoodledoo]

We only pay the copay at doctors and nothing at the dentist (no copay for cleanings).

 

[Harvest02]

Usually our dentist office puts the claim through while we are there, and gets an estimate of what our portion will be which is mostly 20%. I think I paid $22 for my sons visit a few months ago. When I get the claim form from Humana Dental, it says what my portion is(usually what I already paid at the dental office). It is a pretty painless process and we have never had any problems with them doing it this way.

 

[coneeny4]

My 8 year old DD needed a tooth pulled 2 weeks ago and the oral surg. told me it would be 285.00 cash up front, they do not deal with any insurance . So I called back my dentist and asked if that sounded right and he was surprised and he told me to bring her back and he would pull it for her.
Our insurance covers the first 100.00 100% the next 500.00 85% and so on.. Well for a cleaning, a filling and having the tooth pulled it cost me 12.00 out of pocket. He charged only 85.00 to pull the tooth.

 

[mamalle]

nope- pay when we leave if needed. our cleanings, extractions, fillings are covered 100%. I had a dentist tell me that they wanted me to pay upfront for the kids cleanings and I told them sorry I'll find another pediatric dentist- which I did. there is not reason I should pay out of pocket upfront when they have a contract with my dental insurance. Plus the fact- we had a pediatric dentist trying to charge for instructions on proper teeth cleaning. Our insurance stated that that is included in the cleaning and not a extra charge. If I would of paid it upfront- the office would of taken my money and not refunded it. Our insurance refuses and the write it off everytime. I did send dh to a oral surgeon I knew to get a opinion on getting his wisdom teeth out and they made him pay the bill. I found out when he got home. so I called her and she said its because the norm of our patients do not pay their copay, balance etc. well I said we have insurance and stated by the contract- they will pay 100%. Of course I had to call them again when the EOB came from the insurance company stating they paid the $60 since they still didnt refund our money.. unbelievable. for more expensive work like crowns: I have had two. our insurance paid 60% and they never made me pay upfront.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Yes we do. And both give us a discount for doing it too. The insurance has always reimbursed us on the non-discounted price. Yes the bill does show the discount.

 

[canwegosoon]

Dentist-copay only, anything that ins. does not cover we get an additional bill.

Oral Surgeon- They do an estimate at the consultation, and you are responsible for everything that will not be covered by insurance before the procedure begins. Can you say...thank goodness for medical pretax spending accounts and credit cards(I have had over $30K dental work in the past 3 years).

 

[Chicago526]

I pay nothing, the dentist sends me a bill for whatever is left over after insurance pays them. But I only go in for routine cleanings and exams, I haven't had any major dental work done (ever, actually. I still have my wisdom teeth! ).

 

[Laurajean1014]

Yes. They have already calculated what my insurance would pay. They rarely make an error whereas I receive a credit, however, it has happened where they over-estimated my insurance and they send a nominal bill for the balance.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

our dentist makes up pay IN FULL before we leave the office.

I hate that. If the insurance is going to pay $300 and my part is $200, I feel I should only have to come up with the $200.

I think many people probably put off going to the dentist for this very reason.

 

[maggiew]

We only pay the copay at doctors and nothing at the dentist (no copay for cleanings).

Us too.

Maggie

 

[Scutapipig]

We pay 100% before leaving. We do not have dental insurance. *sigh*

We will then run it through the flex plan for reimbursement.

 

[FigmentsBiggestFan]

We have dental insurance HMO (Cigna) and since we have to use a certain provider, we only have to pay the copay. When they sent me to the oral surgeon to have one of my wisdom teeth out, they only charged me the $30 copay to have it done.

Before insurance I had to pay it in full the day we had it done. Thank goodness for the insurance!!

 

[tammy1210]

Our dentist files it for us - which is good, because there's usually some sort of insurance write-off, and then they send us a bill for the 20% that's left for fillings, etc... but they pay 100% of cleanings/x-rays.

 

[Kay1]

My dentist charges MetLife then bills us for any balance. My sons' dentist does not take insurance but gives us insurance receipt. We send it in a receive a check made out to us from MetLife. My son just has his wisdom teeth removed and our health insurance covered it with a $35 co-pay.