Quote:
> The preceding paragraph stating that a dentist figures in the value of
> the s{*filter*}gold is ludicrous! What about the situation in which there is
Twenty-five years ago, when dental insurance was rather
uncommon, it was the usual practice to judge the cost of each
case on its own individual merits. Difficult cases called for
a higher fee, and cases which required fewer resources were
priced at a lower fee. Patients who had lower incomes were
often charged less than patients who drove Cadillacs. In short,
every individual was treated as an individual.
Now, I suppose, it is common for dental offices to make
concessions to the power of insurance companies and other
third parties, and set a flat fee for each procedure, ignoring
the differences between individuals. This practice eases the
administrative burdens of insurance companies, but it isn't
fair to the patient who has a simple crown and has to pay the
same as a patient who presents a very difficult crown case.
If a dentist derives some value from a patient in the form of
used dental gold, he ought to take that into account before
setting the fee to be charged. All other factors being equal,
(and they're never equal in the real world, unfortunately),
that ought to be figured into the total fee. But with the
insurance companies insisting on flat-rating everything they
can describe as a "procedure code," that sort of attention
to individual patient differences is rapidly disappearing.
GOLD CROWNS WHOS??? GOLD