I Just $hit My Pants.......Medical Cost

[rsmith6621]

....Well I need some help cleaning up my undershorts....I just opened a letter from my wife and I health insurance company and $hit my pants when I saw what the dentist billed the insurance company for a root canal....$1100.00 + $150.00 for the filling to cover the hole up.....it took him all of 35 minutes and two weeks later the tooth shattered and now it will cost us another $500.00 out of pocket expenses for a cap/crown....total quote was $1050.00.......The root canal has used up %85 of her yearly benefit.


The tooth was a solid tooth to start with......what a crock of $hit.......

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Start Bundling Campaign Contributions

Seems to be the only thing that works these days.

[rateyes]

2. You should not have to pay for the cap and crown...

IMO. The dentist is supposed to do it right the first time.

This is why I'm for universal health CARE as opposed to universal health INSURANCE.

[Donnachaidh]

3. We had a similar nightmare

DH went to have a callus scraped off a toe. He went to a podiatrist. He wasn't in there more than 20 minutes, with nothing done other than scraping.

We received a copy of the bill filed - it totalled $6,000! This crackpot actually called it surgery! And our insurance actually paid him $600! I don't know who I was more pissed at, the doctor for *doctoring* the bill, or the insurance that paid a huge amount for such minimal work. :grr:

[brer cat]

10. There is a LOT of this going on.

An elderly friend went to orthopedist for a cortisone shot in her shoulder. Didn't see the physician at all, his assistant gave her the shot. In and out in about 5 minutes. She was stunned when her medicare statement came and they had been charged $600 for a "surgical procedure."

[hedgehog]

4. Wiat a minute - the dentist put a root canal in a perfectly sound tooth?

BTW - a root canal complete with filling in 35 minutes - never heard of one that went that fast!

[Trillo]

6. Always ask to see the X-rays,

and examine them carefully yourself. Professional, college selected greed artists abound.

Learn to recognize your own teeth, a fraud artist could even show you X-rays of someone else's bad tooth.

[Cleita]

9. That's true. I've had three of them. Only one required a crown.

Was the dentist who did it a specialist? Mine was. If your regular dentist was trying to do a procedure he didn't know very well for the money, you could have a problem there.

[hedgehog]

13. I'm not questioning the dentist. I'm questioning the OP's claim that

the tooth was perfectly sound! I've had a number of root canals. Just getting the Novocaine and sitting there waiting for it to kick in takes about 20 minutes!

[zalinda]

5. I've known for years that you ALWAYS get a crown

after a root canal. The dentist knew too. A root to your tooth keeps that tooth alive and strong, take it away and it is dead and weak. A dead tooth never lasts long.

Btw, I was surprised to hear Edwards in a speech mention dental care when he was talking about health insurance, I think he has been the only one to link good dental care to health.

zalinda

[otohara]

7. Remember The Days When Dental Ins.

covered everything and there were no co-pays? Now we have decide whether it's absolutely necessary to have certain dental procedures done because of the high cost and lousy insurance benefits.

[Maine-i-acs]

8. Mine was $900

Insurance paid half and I thought I had great dental insurance. Until I found out that my daughter's $2000 orthodontia is completely not covered.

[Javaman]

11. Sounds like irritable bowel, you may want to get that looked at as well. nt

[Vinca]

12. As a person without insurance, I can tell you it's a whole lot

worse when you have to pay the whole shebang out of pocket. My last dental nightmare was in the $1,200 range, too.

[zalinda]

14. And this is why you see the poor

without teeth. You go in and get a filling, if you can afford it. Or if you can't pull it. Root canal, pull it. Crown, pull it. And, to top it off, they get made fun of, by those who can afford dental care.

zalinda

[ChickMagic]

15. The same thing happened to me

I just asked the dentist if there was a warranty. I had the crown for about 6 months when it shattered and he replaced it free. You should ask about that.

[madmom]

16. my SO had a piece of metal shaving in his eye from work, went

to the urgent-care to have it removed, cost over $1000.00(to the insurance co.), they classified it minor surgery!!! Boy am I in the wrong job.