So, I called the patient to see if she would contact me to let me know what her ID# was, so I could process her claim. She called back and asked me if I tried to call the insurance company for the ID# and I said no because the ID# is always required for a third party to get any information about the policy. She said ok, that she would call. When she called me back with the ID# she said, "I asked the insurance company if you could have called and requested the ID# and they said if someone from the dental office had called they would given you ANY information you needed". I said, "Oh that's interesting because when I call there's usually an automated system that requests, very first thing, to enter the subscriber's ID#." She reiterated that they told her that was not true.
I thanked her for retrieving her id# for her insurance, so I could submit a claim for her and also thanked her for letting me know that I could call, because that was new information to me. Then like a petty get backer, I called the insurance company and went through the automated system (pretending not to have the ID#) and guess what!!! That is confidential information. They can not give me the ID#. FUCKERS!!!
Why do they have to lie to my patients making me look like a lazy fuck? I did start to dial my patients phone number just to set the record straight and I hung up before I finished dialing, as I concluded calling her to clarify would just seem petty, but there's no fucking way I wasn't going to blog about it!!!
I am usually a very positive person, as you may already know and I, rarely, if ever use the H word, but I HATE insurance companies. They are lying, uncaring, money grubbing FUCKS!!! I truly feel sorry for the people that work for those companies. It takes just about all the inner poise I can muster, not to take it out on the poor soul on the other end of the line.
Any time someone calls me to ask advice about what dental insurance to choose, I always advise to self insure. Save the money you'd spend/waste on a premium, actually save it, and spend your dental dollars anyway you'd like, with out having to jump through a bunch of hoops just to get denied. When people have dental insurance and procedures get denied that don't make any sense and my patients ask me why, I simply tell them, Your insurance company doesn't give a shit about your health. You are right it doesn't make any sense, but it makes dollars. OK, I'm done.
