[coat1955]

I went to a dentist in Michigan for a routine exam and cleaning in March 2010. Upon check out the clerk at the front desk gave me a Proposed Treatment Plan for an Ocusal Guard. Just before I opened the door to leave one of the doctors nurses stopped me and told me that I was in need of a redo on 3 fillings. I scheduled to have 2 of the redo fillings done the following week. I declined the Oculal Guard. I went it the following week for 2 of the 3 fillings. About a month later I received a notice from my insurance company that the dentist billed them for an onlay procedure of $900.00. The insurance paid the dentist for a filling claiming that they downgraded the $900.00 onlay procedure and was paying for a filling. The insurance claimed that the onlay procedure was not medically necessary. I immediately called the dentist office inquring as to why they never mentioned the onlay procedure to me and why the insurance deemed it not medically necessary. Their response was we are not responsible for what your insurance pays for and does not pay for. I told them that I never was informed of this onlay procedure and why did they perform this procedure when I scheduled for the fillings to be redone. This doctor kept billing me for the balance of $500.00 which I have refused to pay. I turned this doctor over to the licensing board in Michigan who sat on it for 2 years and have recently contacted me stating that this doctor has not violated "The Public Health Code". I called them and told them that my complaint was of a patients rights and not public health code. I continue to get phone calls from credit collectors for this bill. Any suggestions out there?

[Fr_Chuck]

First do you know this procedure was done,

Next if you did not agree or ask for this procedure you do not owe for it. So tell the collection agency this is not a valid debt ( should have done that on the first bill they sent you) and tell them not to contact you again,
Then the collection agency has to stop calling you.

See if the license board has a arbitration arrangement over payments ?