Dental Insurance and Financing - E.P. True Dental - West Des Moines Family Dentist Office

Dental Insurance

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Our entire staff is pleased that you have insurance benefits to help you and your family with the cost of your dental care. We would like to help you obtain the maximum use of these benefits. With this in mind, please read the information on our insurance claims process so we can work together to ensure this benefit.

Do you accept my insurance? How much will they pay?

We currently accept most private care insurance plans, which means that we work with hundreds of companies. Although we maintain computerized histories of payment by a given company, they do change; therefore, it is impossible to give you a guaranteed quote at the time of service. We estimate your portion based on the most up-to-date information we have, but it is only an estimate.

I thought I paid my portion, but I got a bill. Why?

We base the patient portion of your bill on our most current data, but there are several factors that can affect this estimate. For example, there may be a deductible, or you may have received treatment in another office prior to joining our office. Insurance companies do not inform use of any changes to your benefits. We do, however, investigate your benefits as thoroughly as possible.

Insurance did not pay, now what?

We bill your insurance as a courtesy. Dental insurance is nothing more than a contract between your employer and the insurance company to partially pay for certain services. These dental procedures are not based on need, rather, determined by the fee provided by your employer. Your employer buys a contract at a specified premium, and includes as many, or as few benefits as the employer is willing to pay for. It is a well known fact within the industry that a higher premium paid by the employer will get you, the patient, a higher "usual customary and reasonable (UCR)" fee schedule.

Our fees are set by the actual costs of doing business in this office. Obviously, costs can vary from office to office depending on the quality of service, material used, lab costs, and many other factors. Our fees reflect the quality of service and the care with which it was delivered. Our diagnostic equipment, sterilization procedures and restorative services are state-of-the-art. The fees reflect the quality of service and the care with which it was delivered.

An often misunderstood term used by many insurance companies is "UCR". This is an arbitrary fee ceiling at which the insurance company will stop reimbursement. After this ceiling, coverage for a particular procedure may cease, meaning that the patient will have an extra portion that is due. Despite our best efforts at giving you an accurate estimate, a patient will occasionally owe the amount of the difference. Again, this has nothing to do with the fee charged, but rather with the level of coverage negotiated between your employer and the insurance company.

Financing

We request payment for your portion at the time of service. We do have several methods of payment that are designed to help you and your family get the quality of care that you deserve. Please feel free to ask any staff member if there is anything we can do to serve you.

We welcome you to our family and look forward to helping you get the healthy, beautiful smile that you deserve.