How to get refund from dental office after overpaying for procedure?
I (20F from Florida) earlier today wrote a post about how my dental office charged me money for a procedure because it was a “same-day” service, despite my insurance completely covering it. In my investigation since then, I have realized that overpaid for a wisdom tooth removal surgery that I had July 31st.
Before the surgery, I had calculated that I only had to pay maybe $600 max based on my research and insurance benefits. The dental office said I actually had to pay $3k as they had to do sinus perforation closures but my insurance doesn’t cover that. I panicked and begged for some sort of discount, and it was reduced to about 1.9k. I had to pay $400 upfront and the office, after much discussion, put me on a payment plan for $131.67 a month for 12 months for the remaining 1.5k. I have since made 4 payments, so I have paid $926.68 in total so far.
I realized that the dental office charged me for a service today when they shouldn’t have, because they were rushing me to sign. I think this dental office has been doing this to many other people; all the good reviews for the place seem like bots and all the bad reviews are people sharing experiences like I am. Most of them say that this office only cares about money. I read some reddit posts and insurance explanations and then checked my claims (I am new to healthcare fuckery so didn’t realize I had to check).
My insurance’s EOB says I owed $500. For the sinus perforation closures (and other things that were apparently “not covered” as seen on my dental bill), it says: “Under our rules the fee for this service is included in the fee for another service. If you see a network dentist, you do not have to pay. If you see a non-network dentist, you may have to pay. (EX4M7)”
This provider is in-network and I was referred to them for the wisdom tooth removal. So, given this information, didn’t I overpay? How do I get started in cancelling my payment plan and getting a refund for the ~$426.68 overpayment from the dental office?
