I chose this doctor as my primary care physician solely based on proximity. Today I called to find out about making a first-time appointment for my spouse who has some sort of common cold or routine upper-respiratory infection. The woman who answered the phone was curt and humorless. She made a big deal about me mispronouncing the doctor's name. (The 'e' on the end of 'Dave' is pronounced as if accented. FYI.)
This woman, presumably a receptionist, would not even proceed with providing me general information until she confirmed my insurance coverage information. Once she did that she pointed out that my insurance plan likely has a high deductible (it does indeed) and then she told me that they would expect full payment for any office visits at the time of service. I thought at first I had misunderstood but she kept insisting that I would have to pay for the visit in-full regardless of my insurance coverage.
I asked, "So you're telling me that if the office visit costs $300 I'm gonna have to pay that upfront at the time of the visit and that my $30 copay is not going to be sufficient?" She answered, "Yes because you have a high deductible." I said, "I've never heard of that. Any insurance I've ever had only required me to pay whatever my copay was at the time of a visit and then if anything was not covered by the insurance I was billed later." "Well," she said, "you will have to pay for the visit in-full upfront when you come in because your insurance has a high deductible."
I then informed her that their office seemed more concerned with money than providing quality healthcare services and that I would be changing my family's primary care physician. She replied, "That's good" and hung up on me.
So I immediately went to my insurance's web site and pulled up a list of local doctors and called another nearby. I got much better service calling this other doctor's office and the receptionist at the other office concurred that I would ONLY pay my $30 copay at the time of service and if anything happened to not be covered I'd just be sent a bill later. I then called the insurance company to change my primary care physician and asked them about the situation. The insurance rep was almost speechless when I informed him of my experience and assured me that doctor offices should only ever be charging me my standard copay at the time of service. They need to submit their charges to the insurance company to find out if anything will not be covered BEFORE billing the patient.
Dr. Ajit Dave may be a fantastic physician but he has a horrible person representing his office that is chasing business away and sullying his name. read more
