Dr. Benjamin Bert
Don't Trust This Clinic
Came Dr. Benjamin Bert for something very specific, ended up having an unnecessary and unrelated procedure/exam done, which I had never asked for, and that my insurance didn’t cover.
I tried to negotiate/dispute it, but was of course given the run-around, and the usual rehearsed defense of, “We’re not responsible for knowing your insurance, blablabla.”
No, dear, this is not about me debating any legal (or even moral) obligation for you to communicate, be upfront, and give me a chance to decline said procedure/exam, this is a matter of bad business practice.
Sure, a simple Google search would have informed me that this procedure is not covered by insurance providers, but I trust YOU to be the experts who deal with this every single day, and know very well how costly it is to patients.
And then there’s that follow-up argument about how this procedure was “necessary”.
Okay, I don’t pretend to know more than you, but I was perfectly content with what I had gotten out of the initial visit prior to it, and can safely say that it added nothing to that initial diagnosis, prognosis, prescription, or really… anything whatsoever.
So, you can argue that a follow-up “for your own information” testing is necessary… the same way you could have also tacked on some x-rays, blood sampling, STD lab-work, etc. etc.
Bottom line, I did not need it, nor did I want it. Especially since this was not the first visit I had regarding this particular issue.
For what it’s worth, Benjamin Bert seems like a “nice” guy. As others have pointed out, it’s his front-desk staff that is cold and humorless.
And quite frankly, I don’t trust this clinic to have my best interests in mind, and to not exploit their patients. Some of us really can’t afford to take that chance.
