Yet Another Fee

Dentists are now charging a $10 to $20 Cleanliness Fee to defray the cost of providing a safe environment from COVID-19.

 

Seen a receipt from somewhere yesterday which had a Covid surcharge on it, was only a few dollars but yea, this will become the norm.

 

I don't expect them to eat the costs, given their costs are going to be higher with all the extra precautions places are going to have to take.

Sucks, but understandable.

 

We got a similar notice from our dentist which is a two dentist operation. A week later, he sent out another notice. Never mind, times are tough and we changed our mind.

 

I believe you are saying that they retracted their covid-19 surcharge. If that is the case they are good Dentists. Good people.

 

Recall the "Energy Surcharge"?

 

Really? I thought that was already expected, shouldn't any doctors office be germ free especially a place where your mouth is open for a long time?

 

I process dental claims so I knew these type of charges were coming. Good thing is that I see some insurance companies do cover them.

Now I have an appointment next week so I'm sure I'll be slapped with one of these charges. Will definitely be interesting to see if my own insurance will cover it.

 

Yes, they dropped the surcharge before it even started.

 

DH said his barber has added a $5 fee to sterilize the equipment between customers.

 

You mean the amoeba of resort fees? Thank you Station Casinos for this innovative concept!

 

My instinct here is to say what I always say about surcharges, which is that I have no problem with "paying what it costs", but it should just be one all-inclusive price. I.e., a $150 service is now $170 instead of $150 + $20.

In this particular case, I actually support the fee and can understand it being charged as a separate thing. For the fee, it's not the dentist's problem that new safety procedures are required... so they shouldn't have to "eat" that cost out of a price that was determined based on very different circumstances. For charging as a separate thing, I admittedly am not THAT familiar with how dentist billing works, but to the best of my knowledge there are certain constraints to dental services pricing based on laws and/or insurer protocols (perhaps @NYNYGirl can shed some light on this). I do know that here in Ontario, the Ontario Dental Association has a fee guide, which insurers then use as the basis of their coverage maximums. So perhaps in the $150 example above, it might not be possible to raise the cost to $170, thus requiring the fee to be separate.

 

They oughta just bundle it in to the regular charge!

I have two pro-exams each year with insurance with no copay. I would hope that the nuisance fee is included in that.

 

@Breeze147 this might help you.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dentists-extract-fee-patients-keep-083213602.html

 

Interesting this pops-up today. I was just at my dentist’s office this morning. I was in the chair and asked, “hey is that a new door?” My dentist of 30+ years proceeded to show me some of the improvements done to keep everyone safe, including a $2,000 UV light on the ceiling that gets turned on for 30 minutes in between every patient procedure.

Yes, the door was new as well, which contained some kinda built in air-filtration system. There was also a fancy exhaust filtration deal built into the outside wall now too.

I have to go back in a week for the rest, so I didn’t see the bill, of which I’ll pay 20% of anyways. I’ll let you folks stress and bitch about the “fee” if you’re so inclined, I’m just happy to be able to go to the dentist again. Can’t believe I just said that!

 

There are no appointments available for my dentist until the middle of August.

A dentist’s office is usually immaculate and sterile so unless it’s advanced systems like smartone’s, $20 seems high.

My hairdressers always had an extra $2 service fee. They gave out masks and had at least ten minutes sterilizing in between clients. No extra added fee; that surprised me.

 

That's crazy, a medical office is supposed to be clean by definition.

Reminds me of back in 2001, Waste Management and the others around here, put on a "fuel surcharge" because fuel went crazy. We are still paying it today.

Just another money grab.

 

Wow, I ask them to pay an "appearance charge" for servicing me and that usually covers any added junk.

 

EVERYTHING in our CONSUMER LIFE with go up in price.....NOW
This is part of the DEPRESSION that will follow Covid 19
Which will not be "labelled " a depression
Have you noticed grocery prices ?....start there......then add business lost profits....
that will be made up to our detriment

 

And, if you were lucky to KEEP your job, most employees have to take 10%+ pay cuts, for who knows how long!