I Have A Dentist Appointment Next Week

If they try this, I'll walk out.  I'm tired of stuff like this, and I completely agree with Erica Schoenradt:

After nearly two months at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Erica Schoenradt was making plans in May to see her dentist for a checkup.

Then she got a notice from Swish Dental that the cost of her next visit would include a new $20 "infection control fee" that likely would not be covered by her insurer.

"I was surprised and then annoyed," said Schoenradt, 28, of Austin, Texas. She thought it made no sense for her dentist to charge her for keeping the office clean because the practice should be doing that anyway. She canceled the appointment for now.

Swish Dental is one of a growing number of dental practices nationwide that in the past month have begun charging patients infection control fees of $10 to $20.

A Maryland epidemiologist:

"I'm not sure what is the best solution to the increased costs of tighter infection control, but this new charge may not be covered by insurance, and that passes all the burden to the patient."

It won't be passed on to me if I walk out of the office.  I walked out of the office last year after they kept me waiting over an hour, I'll switch dentists if they try this.

They need to think more like economists and find better ways to balance their own budgets.  I am not their ATM.

Update, 6/15/20: Last year my dentist office became affiliated with a large "chain" of dentists. Everyone warned me how bad this organization was, but seriously, how bad could a dentist office be?  I was surprised when even some of the employees at that office, immediately before the takeover, told me I should consider getting a new dentist.  Still, I was skeptical.

Believing them would have saved me a lot of time.

Last December I walked out of my morning appointment because, even though I was sitting in a chair, nothing had been done more than an hour after my appointment time.  In the morning!  Imagine if my appointment had been at 4pm!  And this wasn't an ordinary cleaning, for which they bill my insurance, this was one of those above-and-beyond appointments for which I was to pay out of pocket.  I scheduled a cleaning appointment the following week, and at the end of that appointment I scheduled one for 6 months out--last Tuesday.

On Monday I called to confirm the next day's appointment.  Instead of confirming or denying my appointment, I was told it was "procedure" to update/confirm all data they had on me, answer a bunch of questions, etc.  Only after doing all this was I told that I'd need to bring a note from my doctor saying I was 'rona-free and OK to go to the dentist.

The next day I found myself a new dentist.