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| - DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ever go to any Western Dental office for orthodontia or dental treatment. I had braces put on in like 2012 or so, and I had dental coverage with $5,000.00 of orthodontia coverage for which I paid extra, through work. I signed a contract that showed what my portion of the bill would be, and what my insurance coverage would pay. I paid my portion of the bill every month, using either my debit card or my healthcare spending account. Midway through the process, I asked the billing office why it showed my insurance hadn't paid anything, and was told they paid at the end of each year, and then paid the final amount, at the end of treatment or, at the end of the second year. Mid treatment, my dental provider changed, when we signed up for benefits each year through my employer. The coverage, however, did not change, and there was no lapse in coverage. I, then, changed jobs, and provided my new information to the office. That has now been over two years ago. When I was last in the office, in July 2015, I purchase a retainer, paid $98 for it, and got the bill. The bill still showed that I owed about $200 for my end of the balance, and that the insurance company, after all this time, still hadn't paid anything towards their part of the bill. I spoke with somebody again, after discussing this with them on multiple occasions, and explained that no payment had been paid. I called my ex-employer and found out that nobody had ever billed the insurance company for the orthodontia services. When I asked about it, the dental office told me that I was marked as being "self pay." If that was the case, why does the bill show a portion still due from my insurance company, and why do I have a contract showing what my portion of the bill would be, and also showing insurance responsibility? I tried to explain this to them. They didn't quite get it. When I finally got ahold of somebody who understood what I was saying, they tried to bill my insurance company again, almost 16 months after the fact. The insurance company will pay claims submitted up to a year late, so they denied the claim. I've explained this to Western Dental multiple times... And explained that they did not submit the claim in a timely manner, and that, because of their failure to do so, they didn't get paid. After discussing this with them several times, over and over again, and spending hours and hours on the phone with them, they said they would look into it, and call me back. I never heard a thing back from them since July of last year. No billing statement. No calls. Nothing. I assumed that, after a year, they'd caught their mistake, and that they'd simply written it off. Nope. I called to get a receipt for the retainer I'd bought back in July of last year, and found out my account had been sent to collections for the entire amount my insurance never paid. To top it off, the office, when it submitted the bill some 16 months late, billed the insurance for the total cost of the bill which was over $5,500.00. They not only billed late, but they over-billed as well. Now, I'm sitting here with an account in collections, and Western Dental won't even discuss it with me. The collection company wanted to offer me a settlement, allowing me to pay a smaller amount, but I told them they could take me to court. I confirmed, again, that I was covered, in every way, with the insurance company, and that the claim was submitted 16 or more months after the date of service. I'm getting a lawyer.
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