I liked Dr. Merrell, however his staff left a lot to be desired as far as taking responsibility on an error they made on our dental insurance we used when Dr. Merrell pulled some back teeth on our then 17 year old.
Before the surgery his staff said they had checked with our insurance to see if our insurance would pay for anesthesia and told us the insurance would cover it.
Well, after the surgery we received a bill from Dr. Merrell charging us for 100% of the anesthesia.
I called the insurance company and they told me Dr. Merrell's office had called for pre-approval for the surgery. The insurance company stated they approved the surgery, but did not approve the anesthesia. The insurance read back the notes they discussed with Dr. Merrells office and the notes clearly stated the anesthesia would not be covered. I can't remember why it wouldn't be covered, only that it wasn't covered.
Dr. Merrells office apologized for the miscommunication, but ...oops, the patient still has to pay the bill.
We also found out after the surgery, the doctor could have used a local and our daughter would not have had to be put under with the anesthesia.
The anesthesia bill was around $600.00 if I remember corectly.
We paid the bill because we didn't want it to go to a collection agency, but his office made the mistake and refused to do anything about it. They would not even reduce the amount of the bill.
Lesson learned here, don't depend upon any doctors office to find out the pre-approval information, what insurance will and will not cover. Make the phone calls yourself. Then you have only yourself or the insurance company to blame for any errors.
Because of how Dr. Merrells office handled this "error", if I know anyone who needs dental surgery, I tell them "Don't go to Merrell". He was a nice capable dentist/oral surgeon, but his staff left a lot to be desired in dealing with working with the patient for a costly error made by a member of his staff. read more
