Insurance & Financing
We are in-network with Aetna, Ameritas, Assurant, Cigna, Delta Dental, Humana, Principal, Physicians Mutual, Reliance, Reliance Standard, and United Concordia Alliance insurances; however we will file all insurances for you. You must be familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will collect the estimated amount insurance is not expected to pay after your appointment. By law, your insurance company is required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt. You are responsible for any balance on your account after 30 days whether insurance has paid or not. If you have not paid your balance within 60 days, 1.5% will be added to your account each month until paid. We will be glad to refund you if your insurance pays us.
Please understand that we file dental insurance as a courtesy to our patients. We do not have a contract with your insurance company, only you do. We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. We at no time guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim. We also cannot be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance. Once again, we file claims as a courtesy to you.
Fact 1 – No Insurance Pays 100% of all Procedures
Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fees. Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by how much you or your employer has paid for coverage, or the type of contract your employer has set up with the insurance company.
Fact 2 – Benefits are not determined by our office
You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate that the dentist’s actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist’s fees has exceeded the usually, customary, or reasonable fee (UCR) used by the company.
A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable, or well above what most dentist in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.
Insurance companies set their own schedules, and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely, because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the “allowable” UCR Fee. Frequently, this data can be three to five years old and these “allowable” fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.
Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is “overcharging”, rather than say that they are “underpaying” or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usually, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.
Fact 3 – Deductibles and Co-Payment must be considered
When estimating dental benefits, deductibles and percentages must be considered. To illustrate, assume the fee for services is $150.00. Assuming that the insurance company allows $150.00 as its usually and customary (UCR) fee, we can figure out what benefits will be paid. First, a deductible (paid by you), on average $50, is subtracted, leaving $100.00. The plan then pays 80% for this particular procedure. The insurance company will then pay 80% of 100.00, or $80.00. Out of a $150.00 fee they will pay estimated $80.00 leaving a remaining portion of $70.00 (to be paid by the patient). Of course, if the URC is less than $150.00 or your plan pays only 50% of the service fee, then the insurance benefits will also be significantly less.
Most importantly, please keep us informed of any insurance changes such as policy name, insurance company address, or a change of employment.
Additionally, we accept CareCredit and all major credit cards.
Contact Smiles by Seese today to find out about our insurance partnerships or to find out if we currently work with your plan.