Can dentist send me bills half a year later claiming my insurance didn't cover all costs?

Question

I had some dental work done and paid off all balances right at the dentist office. The staement showed a balance of $0.
I just received a bill from the dentist, six month after that work was done, claiming that I owe them money, and that the bill is past due. Even though this is the first letter I received from them!
I moved out of state 2 months ago and also changed insurance since I have a new employer. Can they still come after me?

Answer 1

Why would you NOT owe the money? You have your original bill or EOB, I hope, and you can simply look at the amount charged and compare it to the amount paid. Do the math and that's what you owe.

IF, on the other hand, you were participating in an HMO type thing where the dentist is required to accept only the insurance payment as payment in full (and you would know this if you read your benefit booklet or called your insurance carrier), then you should not owe anything outside of any deductible or prescribed co-pay.

Of course, is this is the first bill they sent you, it's kind of tacky to say that it's past due already. Unless they sent 2 or 3 bills to your old address and they were not forwarded and it took them until now to track you down...

Answer 2

what happens is that when your at the doctor's office, they are only giving you an estimate as to what your co-pay is...once the dentist's office bills the insurance, they get a real $ amount as to what the insurance will pay. example bill is for $200, your co-pay at what you pay at the time of service is $100, and estimate what insurance will pay is $100 = 0 balance. but insurance really pays $50, so there is still a balance of $50 that you need to pay. I don't know what kind of insurance you have but Delta dental always sends a statement of activity. Follow up with your old insurance to make sure that the dental office is not pulling the wool over your eyes. Out ofgood faith call the dental office, and let them know that you've only received their letter once...but yes they can send you to collections.

Answer 3

yes they can. Most insurance companies allow at least 1 year that you can back bill and some even allow up to 18 mo. You can call your previous insurance company that you had at the time and ask them for sure just so you feel comfortable with the answer.

Answer 4

you will could call your coverage and ask. If the dentist replaced into "in community" (no longer in basic terms "coated"), AND the contract has the "if the dentist does not invoice the coverage in a well timed way, the dentist can no longer pass after the affected person while the coverage does not pay" clause, then no. you will could call your coverage and ask them.

Answer 5

Yeah, you need to argue with the old insurance company about it.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, you are going to have to pay it. It's in the fine print of the papers you sign before your visit.

Answer 7

yes! just be proactive and look into your past insurance...it won't go away on it's own, but they make mistakes and you might be able to fix it if you try.

Answer 8

Dr. Sam is completely right. He said it best so no need for me to.

Answer 9

Dentists and doc's do this all the time.

Answer 10

Claim he molested you while you were under and he'll stop asking for money....