After not seeing a dentist in 7 years, I decided to see Aspen Dental. They were one of three in my network that I could visit according to my insurance website. I was surprised to see them offer a "Free Exam and X-Ray" posted on their windows. The only exclusion was I needed to be of age (over 21 I think it said).
After doing the X-rays, I sat in the chair and the Dentist came in. She shook my hand, opened my mouth, and within a minute she got up and left. I then had to transfer to their financial planner.
After reading a laundry list of things wrong with my mouth (I knew it was going to be bad) I was handed a "estimate" of $10,600 of work that needed to done to my mouth. I was shocked to see such a high number, but I heard them out. Later on, I went to another dentist out of my network and found additional work on my mouth that was needed. Their total estimate was $3,800. I knew it wasn't going to be cheap to fix what I had neglected for almost a decade... But, c'mon Aspen.
Now comes the title of my complaint. Aspen charged my insurance $214 for the free exam. Not only that, but weeks after my "free exam" I receive a bill from Aspen asking for $80 out of my pocket. I called Aspen customer service for a definition for the fees for the free visit. They stated to me I had a note on the bill saying my insurance would not cover the bill because I have a "high frequency with visits." This was my first visit in over 7 years. My new Dentist (who is out of network) should be charged that frequency visit if necessary, since I saw them after the Aspen fiasco.
Aspen also stated that my local office should have stressed that my "free visit" should have been clearer to me, stating that they advertise like that for people who do not have insurance to come in and get an idea of whats wrong, but for people who do have insurance, will come out of their deductible.
0 comments