Venting…dentist office stuff.

[Dan Murphy]

I completely understand how frustrating this situation can be! It's important to advocate for yourself, and if the dentist's office isn't willing to make accommodations, it may be time to find a new one. Have you considered looking online for reviews of different dentists in your area? This might help you narrow down your choices and find the right fit. Good luck with your search moving forward!

Lucy
dentist tampa bay

Welcome to the dis, lucy.

 

[brockash]

I went to the dentist today for some work (as opposed to a cleaning). I’m not fond of this office, been a patient for ~2 years, since our previous dentist retired. DH also goes to this dentist. For what it is worth, we are both on my insurance.

They got a new computer system recently. The receipt I got today clear listed DH as the account holder and our address in the header info.

i was merely listed as a patient. First name only. (DH and I have different last names.)

They gave me two different reasons why…1st was-oh, you must be on your husband’s insurance. Umm No, we are on my insurance. The other explanation they gave me was my DH is considered by them to be the head of the household. This explanation did not fly with me either, as this is 2022, not 1952..

I asked then about having a separate account, and…that is harder for us to handle, since both of us are on the same insurance.

Might be time for a different dentist. I’m not overly happy about staying, but finding a new dentist is also frustrating.

thanks for listening to me vent!

This kind of stuff drives me nuts.

 

[indimom]

We're on the same insurance and our dentist maintains two separate accounts. Seems like each person should have their own relationship with a health provider...I've never seen a "shared" account before.

But as far as the IRS and taxes, TaxGuy is NOT wrong.

As much as we women resent assumptions of male as primary, woman as "spouse", it can save IRS headaches to do it that way. I'm the high earner, but female. I'm listed as "spouse" vs primary. My CPA advises to file this way because the IRS still thinks it's 1952 and gets confused otherwise. When the IRS gets confused, it's usually painful for the taxpayer.

He said when a few clients reversed it, they had to waste time correcting IRS mistakes. This was a few years ago when you could reach the IRS in a reasonable timeframe to fix issues!

In our post-COVID world, you rarely get a human without a 2-3 hr wait. They're 24 months behind on mail: whatever you send will sit in a huge pile unread. No appts in many areas.

It's annoying, but I choose my battles - and try not to fight the IRS. My goal is to pay what I owe and minimize interaction. If that means "secondary" status for me on a paper return, I'll take that over the alternative.

Weird. I'm the wife, the higher wage earner, and I'm primary on our taxes. We've never had an issue with the IRS?
I also think it changed at some point in our marriage. I'm pretty sure my husband was primary for most of our marriage, but in recent years it changed to me. I wonder if our tax preparer bases primary on who is the higher income earner?
Regardless, we've had no issues with our taxes.

 

[Pooh2]

Our dentist requires that I list my husband as "Person responsible for bills" because the insurance is under his name.
The wording gripes me a bit because my husband has never paid the bills once in nearly 40 years of marriage!
So I get it, OP!