![]() ![]() ![]() “We find, unfortunately, that some dentists are motivated by costs - by fees that they’re getting from their patients, and therefore, recommend too much work,” he said. “The most underutilized tool when it comes to dental patients is a second opinion.” “We get a lot of complaints from patients who say, ‘I tried a new dentist and the dentist said I have to replace all my fillings, or I need a really expensive restorative work,'” Brasler said. “We’ve found some practices, for example, were offering really low pricing to new patients for that first time cleaning and exam.”īrasler recommends being wary of a new dentist who recommends a lot of expensive new treatments. “They might offer you an exam, cleaning, X-rays, and even one filling as a package deal to attract new patients,” Brasler said. Making those calls you might find some practices are offering new patients introductory package deals. How much is charged for X-rays? What is the cost of an adult’s two-surface composite molar? To get a sense of potential cost variations between practices, some questions you could ask include the cost for an oral exam and cleaning for new patients versus established patients. “Over and over again, we found these massive price differences from practice to practice for the same procedures.” “For example, for a simple filling, a two-surface composite filling, the lowest price our shoppers were quoted was $98 the highest price was $615,” Brasler said. How’s the receptionist staff? Do they seem nice and pleasant and accommodating?ĭental practices can have dramatically different prices.Is the hygienist or the dentist - whoever’s doing the cleaning - gentle?.Does the dentist seem to listen to you?.Self-evaluations of a new dental practice could include going in for a cleaning and exam. Most of them seem to do well by their patients in terms of overall dental care,” Brasler said. “The good news, though, is that the majority of dental practices that we rated got pretty high ratings. “We found that there really isn’t this correlation between quality and price when it comes to dental care,” said Kevin Brasler, executive editor at Washington Consumers’ Checkbook.Ĭheckbook’s survey of patients about dentists they’ve used did find, however, substantial differences in quality from practice to practice based on answers to questions such as: Was the dentist thorough, did the dentist communicate well, seem competent, have a pleasant staff, have short wait times? ![]() area dentists - you’re just as likely to be happy paying modest prices versus paying more than average for procedures, according to a locally based consumers’ group. Business & Finance Click to expand menu. ![]() The great majority of doctors do not present such problems, so your best option will often be to avoid those who do. In such cases a 15% higher Medicare rate called the "limiting charge" may apply. And still others will accept new Medicare patients but do not "take assignment" and have their patients pay in full and submit Medicare claims. Some doctors accept no insurance of any kind. For example, some doctors do not accept new Medicare patients, even if the patients are in a plan whose network includes these doctors. You should be aware, however, that there are many complexities. Moreover, persons over age 65 are by law guaranteed a Medicare rate and can use all doctors who have not opted out of Medicare without fearing high charges, even while enrolled in plans that offer no reduced cost sharing for those with Medicare Part B. You can go to any hospital and almost any doctor without losing coverage. Therefore, for annuitants who participate in Medicare Parts A and B preferred provider restrictions largely disappear when enrolled in almost all plans. Even in HMOs that don't waive these costs, you can use Medicare to go out of network and pay only the 20% coinsurance charge under Medicare. However, network problems largely disappear if you have Medicare Parts A and B, since most of the national plans waive most doctor and hospital cost-sharing whether you obtain care in or out of network. We rate plan costs based on the assumption that you will always or almost always want to use preferred providers, also known as staying in network. ![]()
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