I am writing to badbusiness.com in the hope of righting a wrong.
Recently my 26 year old mentally retarded son went to the dentist, with providers from his group home. They went to the dentist, because he accepted the dental plan that my son had purchased. The dental plan was with
NHCD and this dentist was listed on their provider list.
Dr. Conrad Tang practices general dentistry at 1701 West Glendale Ave., Suite 6, Phoenix, Arizona 85021.602-249-4404.
My son Bill had an appointment in December and the general check up cost $38.00, his cost for the check up. Or at least that is what I thought. They told my son (or the people he was with) that Bills teeth needed a cleaning. The home, made an appointment for Bill to be seen in April. Upon talking to Shane who is in charge of Bills group home, I was informed that there was no agreement at that time on the cost of the cleaning.
At the time of the appointment, the driver/attendant from the group home asked how much the bill was going to be. They took Bill to the examination room. The driver/attendant asked again how much the bill was going to be. That is when the receptionist told the driver/attendant that the bill would be $110.00 for the cleaning. The receptionist was told that Bill did not have that much money. All he had was $45.00 to pay the bill. The receptionist began arguing with the driver/attendant and wanted her to pay the rest of the money out of her own pocket. The driver/attendant said that she was unable to do that. The receptionist told the driver/attendant that they do not bill patients and that payment was due at time of services. The driver/attendant told her she had no more money.in the meantime, Bill was getting his teeth cleaned, even though the receptionist had been informed that Bill did not have that much money.
They finally agreed to bill Billy for services rendered. Two days later I had a meeting with Shane and he told me about the incident at the dental office. I asked why they performed the service when Bill did not have enough money. He told me that he did not know, but Bill now had a bill at Dr. Tangs office for $65.00. I told Shane at that time that Bill could not afford to pay the bill right away, because we had just bought a mattress on Bill's behalf.
Someone from Dr. Tangs' office named Karen called me on June 4. I called her back from work and told her that I planned on paying the bill this month. Karen said to me that this bill was over 6 weeks old and they do not usually bill people. I proceeded to ask her why Dr. Tangs' office did the work. I said, "The office knew what kind of insurance my son had." I continued with "Your office knew that the driver/attendant only had $45.00, then why did your office proceed with the cleaning." Her reply was that they (the group home) brought him in for the appointment.
The conversation continued in this manner for a few more minutes. Karen then told me that I as the parent I should have gone and taken care of this myself. I should not have left it up to incompetent people, like the ones who brought him to the appointment. I do not consider these people to be incompetent. They take good care of my son and take care of his needs. Bill is mentally retarded and has an IQ of less then 39. My son is the equivalent of a high 3 to low 4 year old. I placed Bill in a group home, so he could feel grown up and like he was an adult. He is treated like one of the family at the group home and he has several roommates, which are in the same situation as he is. He is treated like he has moved away from home (as most adults do) and he is made to feel like he has a say in what happens to him as an adult.
Karen then told me that NHCD insurance company did not cover this kind of cleaning at all and that Bill had to pay all of the cost of the cleaning himself. I became upset at this point, because the office knew Bill had NHCD insurance and the dentist should not have proceeded with the cleaning of his teeth. I kept asking Karen why they proceeded to clean Bills teeth when they knew what kind of insurance he had and her answer to me was because they came to the appointment. Karen continued to tell me how incompetent these people were and they should not have brought Bill to the appointment, that I should have. I finally figured, I was getting nowhere with her and told her I would be calling Better Business Bureau and she started telling me I was getting too upset and that they wanted their bill paid. I told her that she wasn't listening to what I was saying and then I said goodbye and hung up.
Karen called Shane at the group home and told him that I had hung up on her. She told Shane that they gave the group home the cost of the cleaning and they made the appointment anyway, so therefore they knew how much it was going to cost. Shane proceeded to tell her that he personally had taken Bill to the first appointment and had never received an estimate as to the cost of the cleaning. Karen backed down at that point. I do not know if she knew the group home was never given a bill or not. Karen just told Shane that they needed to have their money for the services rendered.
My son is on a fixed income. I would never have consented to pay $110.00 for a cleaning. I would have asked the group home if they knew of another dentist, who was not this expensive. I would also not have consented to pay for a cleaning which the insurance company does not pay for any part of. The idea of having insurance is to cut the cost down.
I feel that Dr. Tang took advantaged of the fact that my son is handicapped and unable to make decisions on his own. I also feel that taking advantage of a person on a fixed income show irresponsibility and an uncaring practice. Dr. Tang's office knew what insurance company the dental policy was with, knew the insurance company did not pay any part of the bill, he knew the driver/attendant only had $45.00, but continued to clean Bills teeth. I find this to be totally irresponsible behavior, and the office showed lack of compassion and understanding, indicating all they really cared about was the $110.00.
I give my permission to badbusiness.com to print this letter on their site. I want other people to know the kind of service my son received from Dr. Tang's office.
I will be sending photos of this poor excuse for a dentist's office in a few days, I'm told they will be posted with in a few days.
Thank you Mr. ED and Stick so much for being out there for one and all consumers.
0 comments