Stay away form smile care

[conyojose]

What is the name of your state?
Here is my story:

About 3 years ago I went to dentist and had my wisdom teeth pulled out. I paid my Co-payment and everything was swell, my insurance was paying their part. The following year I went back to the same dentist this time I had a crown job but I had a new Insurance provider. Once again I paid my Co-Payment, but this time I received a letter from my insurance denying payment for service. I called and found out that the dentist had combined both services and was trying to bill my new insurance for work that was done the prior year. It took me about 6 months of arguing with my insurance trying to prove that they were wrong, but finally got them to re submit the claim to my old insurance provider and once again my old insurance was paying again and shortly received a letter from my dentist stating that they had done a mistake and were continuing to charge my insurance.

Recently I received a letter from my old insurance company stating that the dentist had reached their payment deadline (I guess they have a deadline that they must bill by) and they are not going to pay any longer and that I wasn't responsible for the remaining amount. I then received a bill from my dentist with the remaining amount, I called them up and told them what was going on and that I wasn't going to pay for their mistakes.

Now they sent me to Collection. I keep writing letters but they just ignore them I think that I need to get a professional letter because my English is not so good.

I need some help with my problem, what should I do?

[purple2]

I'm assuming the letter you received from your insurer--the one that said you're not responsible for payment because the timely filing deadline had expired--was referring to your dentist violating his/her contract with the insurer by not filing a claim on time.

You really should have addressed this issue before it went to collections, but I guess it's too late for that. It's always better to handle billing disputes in writing so you have a record, for future reference.

If you're not going to hire an attorney, my advice is to send a copy of the letter I referred to with a cover letter from you explaining that your understanding is the dentist is not allowed to bill you because of his contractual violation with the insurance company. Mention your previous phone call and the date you called in your letter. Send it by registered mail with returned receipt. Request they cease attempts at billing you, remove your account from collections, and remove any negative reports that have been made to the credit bureaus. Ask them to refrain from phone conversations with you from this point forward--if they or their collection agent needs to get in touch with you, ask that it be done in writing.