Dental Payment Options
Dental care can seem expensive, but neglecting your oral health can be even more costly. As a dental specialist, Dr. Howard Steinberg provides advanced dental procedures and complex treatment plans that are often more expensive than those of a general dentist. Dr. Steinberg and his team want to provide you and your family with state-of-the-art, modern dental care, and that doesn’t come cheap. We encourage our patients to get involved in treatment decisions and to understand their financial obligations.
Our Payment Policy
Payment is due at the time of service, unless prior financial arrangements have been made. Payments may be made using cash, check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. Unpaid balances may be assessed a finance charge.
With the advent of healthcare credit cards (CareCredit®, Wells Fargo Health Advantage® AccessOne®, Citi® Health Card, etc.), you can easily arrange financing for even the most expensive dental treatments.
Our Dental Insurance Policy
Dr. Howard Steinberg does not participate in insurance networks, nor does he subscribe to assignment from any dental insurance company. Although we are an “insurance free” dental practice, we do assist our patients with preparing the necessary paperwork and other documents required by their insurance companies in order to expedite the payment or reimbursement process. Regardless of insurance coverage or implied benefits, the patient is ultimately responsible for payment. We suggest you check your policy or call your insurance company to ask if they will cover a specific dental service rendered by an “out of network” dentist.
What Will Dental Insurance Pay?
No insurance company covers 100% of recommended dental treatment anymore, and many won’t pay for cosmetic dental procedures. However, your insurance company may help you with a portion of the cost. Traditional insurance plans and many PPO and PDO plans will pay something towards the cost of dental care performed by a dental specialist. Dr. Steinberg’s front office will help you submit any necessary documents to your insurance company. Because every insurance plan differs, and there is no way we can keep up with the changes, your insurance company or “carrier” is the best source of information for questions regarding benefits and payment.
Questions about Dental Insurance
- Can I Go to Any Dentist?
- What if a Treatment isn’t Covered?
- What is Direct Reimbursement?
- What is Indemnity Dental Insurance?
- Who Should I Contact about Benefits or a Claim?
Some insurance plans do restrict which dentists you can visit for services. Indemnity plans have no restrictions; you can see any dentist when you have this type of plan. Many PPO plans allow patients to see dentists outside their networks, but doing so may result in higher out of pocket expenses for the patient. With either a DHMO or discount dental plan, patients must always use a dentist who participates in the plan’s approved network.
Many dental insurance plans will only provide coverage for the least expensive way to treat a dental need. Sometimes, special circumstances may be explained to the insurance company to request an adjustment to the patient’s benefit allowance, but there is no guarantee that the insurance company will agree. Patients should base treatment decisions on their dental needs, not on their dental insurance plan.
Direct Reimbursement programs reimburse patients a percentage of the dollar amount spent on dental care, regardless of treatment category. This method typically does not exclude coverage based on the type of treatment needed and allows the patients to go to the dentist of their choice.
Dental insurance plans are commonly divided into two types: “fee-for-service” and “managed care.” Indemnity dental insurance plans, also known as “traditional” insurance plans, are the original type of fee-for-service dental insurance plan. Plan subscribers have the freedom to visit any dentist. However, unlike managed care providers, indemnity dental insurance providers only make payments after receiving and reviewing the dentist’s bill. Subscribers must pay for their dentist’s services in full and submit a claim to the carrier for reimbursement.
If you have questions about your insurance benefits or claims, you should contact your insurance company or “carrier.” The insurance company can access your account and review your eligibility, benefits, and claims activity. Before you have work done, the carrier may ask you to submit a pre-claim that describes the work you plan to have done and information about the dentist. The pre-claim data is entered into the carrier’s claim system so the carrier can determine whether the planned treatments are covered and, if so, how much they will pay for each specific procedure.
Medicare, Medicaid and AHCCCS
We do NOT accept Medicare coverage for payment purposes. Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover the advanced dental procedures that Dr. Steinberg regularly performs. Also, we don’t accept Medicaid or AHCCCS as a means of payment. Medicaid reimbursement rates for dental providers are way too low.
