Worst office stuff, incompetent, rude, insulting.
My first experience with the office was 3 years ago (2016) for an implant. I had two dental insurances. The primary doesn't cover implant. The secondary covers 50% of the allowed amount. After the office filed the pre-authorization. I received a letter sent from the secondary insurance company. They allowed $1,600 of the $2,000 filed amount. Per the policy, the insurance would cover half, and I pay the other half $800. I was OK with that. They I received the phone call from the office. They told me that the allowed amount of my secondary was too low and they wouldn't accept it. They would use the "allowed amount" of my primary insurance. Since it didn't cover anything, they wanted the full $2,000. I didn't agree with this. After several discussion over the phone, they wouldn't budge. I called the consumer complaint division of the state attorney's office. A lady specialized in medical bill related issues told me since the office participated in the secondary insurance plan, they had to accepted the allowed amount and asked me to file a formal complaint. Armed with the information, I called the office again. During the conversation, I mentioned I would only pay $800. And the office manager suddenly paused. She checked something and came back to me. She somehow thought the insurance company only allowed $400. She told me she would accept the $1600. Wow, all the stress, argument was just for a stupid oversight of hers. She then made up the rule of using the allowed amount of the primary insurance. Given the level of the stupidity of the mistake, I figured that I was one of the extreme unlucky patients with the office. I proceeded and completed the treatment.
This year, I need another implant for an old bridge needs replacement. Again I have two dental insurances, Delta dental as primary, and GEHA (high option) as secondary. But this year I also have health insurance from GEHA, which gives a little bit dental benefit (some routine checkup only). So it looks like I have 3 dental insurances. GEHA dental requires any claim must go through GEHA health first. I knew this very well from my dentist's office (actually they told me all about this), my kid's dental office (They got denied and then learned it). Today I went to Dr. Mull's office for the initial consultation. I gave the front desk lady all the three cards, and tried to explain to her that Delta was my primary, then please file to GEHA health, even it won't cover anything. At last please file to GEHA dental. The lady was so inpatient and interrupted me twice and staring at me like I was an idiot telling a fairy tale. She took all my three cards and made copies. Later when she sent me to the treatment room, she informed me that GEHA didn't cover any implant. I was so surprised and told her it covered 50% last time. She told me "They changed it. It is just a very limited plan now". I asked her "It sounds like GEHA health plan. Did you call the GEHA dental plan?" She told me "They are the company. They have the same ID. They coordinate with each other". Then she sent me to the treatment room. While waiting for the doctor, I looked at the cards. No, they don't have the same ID numbers. I called my wife and asked her to call GEHA about coverage on implant. My wife later texted me "covers up to $2500". After seeing the doctor, I was sent to talk to the front desk about billing. The lady talked me earlier was busy doing some paperwork. Another lady showed me an explanation of fees. I told her the other lady made a mistake and GEHA indeed covered implant. I showed her my wife's text. She accepted that the insurance would cover it. She showed me the paper, one line was "bone graft". Delta doesn't cover it. And she explained "MOST insurance don't cover bone graft". I said "That's OK. Since you only got my benefit from Delta, but not GEHA, could you contact GEHA to get my benefit about bone graft and implant as well. I'll be glad to pay out of my pocket if they don't cover the bone graft. She called GEHA, and told me GEHA told her that I was not covered under the policy. She wrote down the representative's name she talked to, the reference number, and trying to convince me she did get that information from GEHA. I tried to tell her GEHA made a mistake, and I wanted to call GEHA to figure it out. She then became very pushy asking me to sign the fee explanation. But I want to figure out the GEHA coverage first. Another later in the back of the office also started point out that I just need to sign the paper. I told them I won't sign anything until I call GEHA. Once I started to call, they told me I need to move away, even no other patient was at the front desk or the waiting room at the time. Then I went to the waiting room to continue the phone call. The lady sitting in the back went all the way around to the waiting room. She came so close to my face and yelled at me that I couldn't use cell phone there. I told her "Ple read more
