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.
Source: Dentists extract new fee from patients to keep up with rising COVID-19 costs / NBC News
I get that costs affect everyone, but in this case, infection control should not be seen as an add-on, and should have been at the highest standard long before the CDC, and the TSBDE mandated best practices. There should be no greater cost to doing it right all along. Even if the argument were made that additional materials and supplies cost more now in the days of increased demand and diminished supply, the insurance comanies are taking the unethical way out to deny this as a covered benfit for the insured. What a scam.