Dental Finance Woes Somewhat Relieved
I got another bill from the oral surgeon’s office. My insurance company did pay out a little bit for the surgery in March. They paid a whopping $259.00 of a $3032.50 bill. CRAP. I am so out of FSA money to cover that, it’s not even funny. It’s sad and makes me want to cry.
However, I had Wednesday afternoon off from work and I used my time to make some phone calls about this situation. I didn’t want to take HC’s advice and appeal because of the time and headache that would cost me. I mean, I can’t even stop at work to make a phone call in the first place, how would I have time for an appeal and endless hold times on the phone? I kind of knew in the back of my head that it would be denied because the insurance has a lifetime maximum on implants, which was met last year with the first one.
Did take Dean’s advice and ask if I could pay them $500 a month till the debt is discharged, and they said ok. I mean, ok. That’s it. She said there was no problem with that and didn’t ask me to sign anything else or talk to anyone else. So all I have to do is mail out those checks for the next 6 months.
Easy as pie. I can swing that, but I definitely will be stopping the 401k contributions beyond the company match. I am going to add this bill to my net worth in the liability column. It’s worth doing since it’s like any other outstanding liability I would have to book at work for the balance sheet.
Single Ma wrote:
Umm no. I would get that agreement in writing missy. The last thing you need is late fees or collection calls because you haven’t paid in full. For all you know, “she” may not work there in another month and there is no record of your “agreement.”
Posted on 19-Sep-07 at 6:23 pm | Permalink
mapgirl wrote:
Single Ma - Good point. I’ll have to call them back. But at least I did something, rather than nothing.
Posted on 19-Sep-07 at 8:14 pm | Permalink
Andrew Stevens wrote:
Single Ma’s advice is good, but I’d be frankly astonished if you ever had a problem with this. Doctors and dentists are used to such arrangements. For that matter, my wife is a veterinary technician and even veterinarians are used to such arrangements.
Sorry about your financial difficulties. I feel your pain since I paid out thousands on my wife’s dental bills back in the day. This was despite the fact that we went to the dental school at the local university and got about half the going market rate. Thankfully, all of that is out of the way (for the moment anyway).
Posted on 19-Sep-07 at 8:54 pm | Permalink
My Road to Wealth wrote:
I feel your pain. I just hope I can do a better job of taking care of it from now on. It is never too late I guess. Keep up the good work!
Posted on 20-Sep-07 at 7:38 am | Permalink
Jen wrote:
My dental insurance recently covered only $14 of a $1800.00 bill. What kind of sorry joke is that? Why do I even pay a premium for this crap every month? I’ve certainly paid in more than $14 in premiums over the last two years, and this is the FIRST TIME I’ve ever used the dental insurance. What happened to the money they got from me? ARGH.
Posted on 24-Sep-07 at 10:41 am | Permalink