I moved to this city and was in need of a dentist. I called Dr. Barrett's office to see if they took Delta Dental. I was told yes, so I made an appt. When I arrived, I filled out the usual new pt paperwork, gave them my Delta Dental card so they could make a copy, then sat down and waited. I was taken back by Dr. Barrett, very nice man, and a good dentist, to discuss my dental needs, then I proceeded to have my teeth cleaned and a few things repaired. I needed a few appts. to complete my care, and while i was sitting in the dental chair having a cleaning, Dr. Barrett gave me a print out of all the procedures he would do, their costs, and an "approximate" amount my insurance would pay. The "approximate" final bill to me would be about $200. I thought, "not bad." When I was finished, I went to the receptionist desk to make my next appt, only to have her say, "That will be $360 please." I was stunned and said, "Are you going to file with Dental Dental?" She said, "Oh yes, but you need to pay us up front and we will have Dental Dental reimburse you." I reluctantly paid, feeling lucky I had that kind of money available at that time, but worried that I would not be able to go to this dentist if payment up front was required. So, at my next appt, I asked to speak to Dr. Barrett about it in private and was able to do so. He was very gracious, asked if I had Delta Dental, and agreed that I could pay him after Delta Dental made it's payment to them. I was relieved. Then, I got my reimbursement check from Delta Dental. It was only for $100. When I went online to their website to find out why the reimbursement was to little, I found out that while Dr. Barrett was not in Delta Dental's Network of dentists. So, I was only reimbursed what a network dentist would have been reimbursed, which was considerably less than what Dr. Barrett charged. I was out $260. But, to make matters worse, I had already had my second visit with him, not knowing any of this until afterward, and now I owned him $600 from that visit, and Delta Dental only paid him another $100. So, needless to say, I called Dr. Barrett's office and asked why I wasnt informed that Dr. Barrett was not in the Delta Dental Network. The response was, "We're not in any network." I also asked about what the deal was then with this estimated charges and reimbursement rate form they gave me and the figures they showed that my insurance would pay and my estimated out of pocket expense of $200. The response, " We can't possibly know what all the insurance companies will pay, so we have to put a figure in there or our computer program would let us print out the form." What? So in other words, they make something up. No one at anytime informed me of this, not even Dr. Barrett, when I made it clear to him I was not in a financial place to pay up front. And, I had this sheet of the costs I would incur and the "estimated" amt. my insurance would pay that was no where near what Delta Dental paid, because he was not in the network. His charges are apparently way above the "average" in network dentists. So, I ended up having to find another dentist, In network of course, but was out $860.

I realize that perhaps what happened here was partially my fault for not making sure he was in the network. But I assumed, and you know what they say about that, that if I asked, do you take Delta Dental, I would have been informed that he was not in the network. If I had, I would have chosen another dentist. Then, to provide me with an estimated cost document, which clearly missed the mark, and was nothing more than made up figures so their computer program would print off the form, I found to be very misleading and at the very least unethical.

I waited a while to pay this bill. I had a home emergency that took priority, and I got a call after 60 days from this terribly rude person from Dr. Barrett's office asking me why I hadnt paid the bill. When I explained my emergency, her response was, "How does that help us pay our electric bill." I have since paid them, reluctantly and begrudingly, and I will never recommend Dr. Barrett to anyone because of this.. Which is too bad, because he is a very good dentist, who I guess just caters to the rich.