Life By Lindsey Rae

Last week I had to go see an oral surgeon because I am supposed to have some preventative dental work done sometime. So, I went for a consultation. Although I was told by my refering dentist it probably wouldn't cost anything as a consultation, I wanted to be sure before I went in, just in cause I they decided to charge me some outrageous amount as a surprise at the end. So, I asked the receptionist about 3 different times what or if there would be any charge for this appointment. She pretty much avoided giving me an answer for whatever reason, so I tried to make it clear that basically I didn't want to see any dentist if it was going to cost a bunch of money....I didn't really want to see a dentist anyway. Well, she told me that there was a couple ways they could bill my insurance so it shouldn't be a problem. So, I went in...saw the surgeon and all that and then he says that I should have the surgery and so he wants to take 3 pictures of my teeth as kind of the before pictures for his little "before and after" book and also, so they can send it to the insurance for their billing stuff. Well, at the end of all this I meet with insurance lady so they can tell me how much it is going to be for my surgery. Ok fine. At the end of all that, then she says that my insurance will pay for my visit today but that I have to pay a fee for the pictures they took. So she has to check on the price of these. Now, I get a feeling that they are going to give me a cost that is going to be high and that annoys me, but I guess it is what it is. Now, keep in mind the dentist just snapped 3 poloroid pictures of my teeth. So, this lady comes back and tells me that the pictures are going to be $27. I am pretty irritated because I know that obviously It does not cost $27 for the dentist to take 3 poloroid pictures. So, then, she says, "How would you like to pay?" and as I give her my check card, she says, "ok, that will be $81."
"What? You just said $27."
"Well, that is for one picture. So it's $27 times three."
So, I threw my card at her and she takes it to be processed and I instantly got so mad. When she came back, I asked her, "How can you possibly just take my card and charge me that? That is less than $2 worth of film. Don't you feel kind of bad about doing that? I mean, you may as well just have stolen the card from my wallet, because you really are stealing money from me!"
So, that initial receptionist comes in. I said to her, "I asked you several at the beginning to tell me what you would be charging me for this visit and you didn't make me aware of this." She stumbled through excuses, but she really didn't make any sense. They wouldn't listen to me. And I was so mad. I was already extra irritable and not feeling well from the migrane medicine my neurologist had given me a few days before. So, I left because I didn't know what I could do. I called Jerrod and told him and he explained that they could only charge what the reasonable and allowable for the insurance was and that I should go find out what the code from the insurance was so I could call the insurance and find out if they had followed that guideline. (Americans and their insurance...I don't know anything about it.) But I really didn't want to go back there. So, I talked Jerrod into taking care of it. He called them and right away they promised to refund my money. Then, they called me to appoligize! He can always make people do what he wants and nobody listens to me!
Anyway, I got my $81 back, which was very good. But, is that not the most terrible thing that the surgeon would charge that? It's dishonest in my opinion. Well, I don't trust him to cut my mouth open now and don't want to give him my business. If he charges $81 for everyone who gets snapshots at their consultations, he probably doesn't need my business. Anyway, he doesn't accept any medical insurance, only dental and using my dental it will still cost me around $2000 to get the surgury with my co-pay. But, I did find out after all that, that my medical insurance will most likely cover it through a different provider and I have 100% coverage with that...so that's an no-brainer.