I Should Have Been A Dentist

Yesterday was just one of those days. Joel stayed home so we could take all 3 kids to the dentist (see previous post about not having a second car right now) and with gas prices being what they are, it was just easier for him to stay and take them with me than for me to take him all the way to work, come home, go to the dentist, come home, go back to his work and get him and come home again. Plus, we were waiting to hear from the mechanic, so he just took the morning off and took the kids. As we're about to leave we get a phone call from the mechanic - Old Faithful is fixable - and, according to him, worth fixing because of the type of car it is. He quoted us a price (gulp) and we decided we'll do it, but not right at this moment. We have other things coming up first and then we'll handle that. So, feeling both discouraged and encouraged (I was hoping for a repair cost of about $29.95 but expecting one of about $2995.00 and it was no where near either) we headed off to our dentist.

I was pretty excited about the dentist (weird, I know, but I really like this dentist) because he's a pediatric dentist, he's great with the kids and we finally have dental insurance (yeah!). I even called the dental insurance company to make sure that I had all my ducks in a row first. The only thing they told me that was a little strange was that I had to give the dentist's office my health insurance card as well. (Our health insurance has a very tiny dental benefit accepted by a few dentists - not the one I was going to - and so I guess the health insurance has to turn it down first before the dental insurance picks it up. All new information to me, by the way) This dentist is a participating provider with my new dental insurance, so I thought no more about it. When we got there, the receptionist was on the phone so she just asked our name and said "ok" and we sat to wait. When she finally was off the phone I asked if she needed to get my insurance card, she said "no - we already have all your information from when you called". I told her that the insurance told me to make sure that they had both cards and she said, "Oh, we just file that through the Air Force". I'm thinking, "OK, fine". When the kids were finished we went the little payment office and I handed the office manager both cards and she gets this real funny look on her face and starts asking me if the health insurance was my "primary". Now, I have no idea. There's not really any dental insurance for this office on this card, so I'm thinking "How can that be the primary anything when they aren't going to give you a dime?". In case you ever need to know - primary means the one that has to be filed first (again - newly acquired knowledge for me). So, I'm still thinking, "fine file that one first, whatever you want to call it. You get paid no matter what." I'm still not really sure what the problem is until she says the magic words, "So, you're a cash pay patient then." At which point I'm thinking "Nuh Uhh" (I know it's lame, but that's what was going through my head). She had to have seen the look on my face because then she tells me that I'm going to be even more upset because the total due that day was $902.00. Yup, you read that right. That was for cleanings and x-rays for all three kids, and one had sealants. (At that point I was wondering if the sealants were golden or something). I told here "But we have insurance - that you take - that covers all this." "We don't file secondary insurance" she replied. OK, that's where I started getting irritated. I think the whole thing is ridiculous beyond belief and makes no sense whatsoever. She called my dental insurance to explain it to me (I didn't need them to explain it - I needed her to explain what the big deal was with filing a claim with my actual dental insurance - which she never did). My dental insurance was really nice, but basically it all boils down to the dentist's office policy. I have to pay first, then I get reimbursed. Well, I was--um--firm in the office because we hadn't been told any of that. She went back and talked to the dentist and he said they'd file them both because we hadn't been told before hand. I'm still irritated ... and confused. I cannot for the life of me understand what the big deal is about filing the actual dental insurance. At least the kids had no cavities and they have nice, shiny teeth now. We did tease the kids on the way home about leaving one of them there for payment.