Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
That’s the thing, if you have insurance it’s one of those easy decisions that you may as well “take advantage”. But that’s the whole point. Dentists are taking advantage because it’s good for business. Not all dentists (I assume), but certainly mine, and then even the new one I go to after switching due to generally hawkish behaviour.
The sentiment that dentists are taking advantage of people is fairly widespread and if doesn’t mean they should not be fairly compensated for their schooling, experience, skill and costs and profit to run their businesses. Where people see line crossing is into the abuse of pricing and sort of weird predatory business practices that are frequently at play. These are valid criticisms in my mind and dentists could easily shed this wide held view by simply not engaging in slime ball business practices.
I also wonder why insurance companies have not been more “on top” of dentists practices and pricing regimes.
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I think it is because insurance comapmies are just middle men. My understanding is the group plans are essentially projected cost plus 10%. So while you may take the hit in year one larger bills mean bigger payments in subsequent years so I don’t think there is incentive for insurance companies to drive down use. Perhaps someone doing group insurance can chime in.
What ends up happening is that the employer may cut maximums or increase co-pays if the plans get too expensive. Do a dentist doing max x-ray, max checkup, max clean frequency hurts the average person becuase eventually it will result in benefit cuts.
