About Michael Brotherton Expertise Consumer/Debtor Rights Advocate.
Mike Brotherton is a negotiator with over 30 years experience in consumer lending and collections. Mike has 30 years in the credit and collections industry as a former loan officer, debt collector and manager of two finance companies over several years.
Mike is well versed in Loss Mitigation practices and the legal collection process. He has helped literally thousands of people over many years overcome serious financial problems such as foreclosure, creditor lawsuits and abuse by debt collectors. For more information about resolving your "financial emergency" visit www.financialemergency.com.
FinancialEmergency.com is a consumer web site which actively promotes Fair Debt Collection Practices and other consumer protection laws. We teach DEBTOR RIGHTS and enforcement of those rights. The more informed you are of your rights and the credit collections practices of creditors the more peace you can have dealing with your FINANCIAL EMERGENCY.
Most financial problems are fairly common and as such have some very common solutions. The key is understanding your rights in the collection process and how to enforce them if need be.
Primary business- Debtor Rights Advocacy and Debt Mitigation relating to foreclosure, creditor lawsuits, and other serious financial problems.
www.financialemergency.com (copy and paste in browser).
Experience 30 years experience negotiating disputes and resolving financial issues related to consumer debt, corporate debt, and mortgage restructuriing.
I live in TX. I received a coupon in the mail for free consultation so I went to see a dentist. They accepted my insurance but they are not in the network. I have two issues with this dentist.
1. When I first visited they wanted to take full mouth x-ray. I requested them not to take full mouth x-ray since I wanted to use my benefits for other treatment. Instead they perform the same service without full mouth x-ray. The dentist promised me that they will not submit that charge to insurance. And will not send bill to me.
But they submitted the charges for full mouth x-rays after few months from the date of service to insurance. Insurance paid all those charges. I called insurance and they told me that it has to be discussed with dentist office. When I called dentist office they don't agree that they will not charge for that full mouth x-ray. Instead they say you don't have pay anything. But I lost my benefits so cannot get other treatments this year.
2. I visited the same dentist after few weeks for routine cleaning. They took normal x-rays and didn't perform routine cleaning instead asked me to get deep cleaning. Due to lack of benefits amount I denied deep cleaning service. They submitted the charges for both x-rays and routine cleaning to insurance for which they received the payments from insurance. I called insurance with no luck. I called dentist office and explained that I haven't received the routine cleaning service for which they submitted the bill to insurance. Instead of sending payment to insurance they submitted new claim to insurance without routine cleaning charges. This claim was denied by insurance since it was a duplicate claim. The dentist office already received the payment for routine cleaning service. And they sent a bill to me. This is totally unfair because they didn't perform the service and charging for that. They already received payment from insurance as well. I got frustrated talking to dentist office. What ground do I have to dispute these charges. How can I do that.
I greatly appreciate your expert advise on this.
Thanks,
Mahy
Answer If you cannot get the cooperation from the dentist then I would change dentists or at least threaten to change dentists and see how the dentists office responds.
If you still cannot get this corrected you may file a suit in smallclaims court and ask the judge to decide the case and force the dentist to correct the claim. Just the notice that you are filing the suit may be sufficient to force them to correct the problem.
You may also file a complaint with your state medical board and your state insurance dept. They both have complaint processes and will tell you whether they have jurisdiction in this matter.
Either one of these options may force the dentist to correct the problem.
