Question about insurance billing

DBReed

A couple of weeks ago, I had my wisdom teeth removed. When I showed up for my appointment, I paid for my portion of the operation and was told that the rest of it would be billed to my insurance company. Fast forward a week, and I receive a bill from my oral surgeon saying that my insurance has failed to pay and that I'm responsible for the rest of the balance, around $800, and it's due on August 28th.

I called my insurance company, and they say that they haven't received a claim for the surgery. The only claim they have from my oral surgeon's office is for the consultation and x-ray I had back on May 27. I asked them when they received that claim, and they said they received it on July 27th, and processed it the following day.

I've tried to get in touch with the people in charge of billing at the oral surgeon, but I always get their voicemail. I've left a few messages, but they've never called me back. My insurance company has also tried to contact them, and they never called them back either. I'm considering going to the office today to try and talk t somebody face to face, although I don't know if that will do any good.

Is it normal for a doctor's office to take two months to file a claim with an insurance company? Also, if they don't file a claim by the 28th, will I be responsible for the rest of the balance?

DBReed

Ha, never mind. Literally ten seconds after I post this I get a call from the doctor's office saying they filed a claim with my insurance. Feel free to lock this.

bowen

Depends, sometimes people lose papers and forget. FYI, you're not on the hook for that if it was sent to your insurance company. It'd likely be a long and drawn out process, and this is the part where you'll find out insurance companies are dickholes. Chances are someone filed it just not correctly. IE they probably billed it under oral surgery general instead of wisdom teeth surgery or some other weird fucked up reason.

Or the person at the insurance company was telling you that to get you off the phone.

MushroomStick

Also, watch the bills and stuff that come from the doctor's office carefully. I have had several try to bill me for things insurance had already paid and some have tried to get me to pay the difference between the normal price and the insurance company's discount (that one violated their contract with the insurance company and my insurance may have sued them over it.)