ComplaintsforLakeshore Family and Cosmetic Dentistry, PC

• Initial Complaint

  11/21/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  The nature of this dispute is that I was given false information by Lakeshore Family and Cosmetic Dentistry about whether or not they accept my insurance. I was explicitly told that my new insurance was verified to be accepted at my appointment when I called to confirm this days before my August 11th appointment. After I proceeded with the visit, I was sent a bill of $170 in the mail and told that my insurance was not accepted. Nothing was said to me about my insurance not being accepted when I arrived for my appointment that day. If they had not explicitly misinformed me, I would not have kept the appointment. I called the office multiple times in attempts to discuss this billing issue, but was not offered a resolution. I do not feel that I should be charged the $170 for the appointment due to the fact that the business explicitly told me that they would take my insurance when I called to verify this ahead of time. They gave me incorrect information and I do not feel that I should be charged $170 for their mistake.

  

  Business response

  01/21/2022

  Hi ***,

   

  We are very sorry about the insurance coverage misunderstanding as we strive to give our patients accurate and factual information for every visit with us. We are an in-network provider for Excellus and when questioned you stated that you have Excellus for your dental insurance. Later we found out that it was actually Healthplex, which is a Medicaid Plan that requires you to see a Medicaid Healthplex dentist. We do understand that a balance in the remaining amount of $120 can create significant hardship and we therefore would like to credit your account, so that your balance is $0. We are very sorry about the misunderstanding and wish you all the best, please know to always disclaim your accurate insurance with any future dentist, so that this will never happen again.

  Thank you and all the best,

  Your team at Lakeshore Family and Cosmetic Dentistry P.C.

  Customer response

  01/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  

  However, I do feel that the business did not appropriately acknowledge their mistake. In their response, they stated that I had given them incorrect health insurance information and they finished their email by telling me to be sure to give accurate information in the future. Healthplex is in partnership with Excellus and therefore my insurance card only had Excellus information - which is the information I gave to Lakeside Family and Cosmetic Dentistry. I appreciate the sentiment of crediting the remaining balance on my account and will accept their response. In the future, I would urge the business to simply acknowledge their error, discuss my concerns one of the multiple times I tried to contact them before going through the Better Business Bureau, and take the time to offer accurate insurance information to their consumers. I certainly hope they don’t allow this to happen again. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* **********
  
  
  
  

  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩