
Quoting
cbg
Just to clarify a few things:
You and your insurance carrier have a contract that, when certain conditions are met, they will pay for covered expenses in exchange for your paying premiums.
You and your dentist have a contract that he will provice certain services in exchange for payment.
Your dentist is not a party to your insurance contract; your insurance company is not a party to your contract with the dentist. The only person who is involved in both contracts is YOU.
If the conditions of the policy are not met, your insurance carrier has no obligation to pay.
Your dentist provided the services; it now falls to you to provide the payment.
Unless your policy specifically, and I mean in so many words, states that the dentist is responsible for the submission of claims, then the fact that your dentist did not submit the claim does not excuse you from fulfilling your part of the contract - that of payment. It is a courtesy, not a requirement, that he submit the claim for you. You, and only you, are responsible for the submission. The fact that he claimed to have done so does not change the fact that the responsibility to see that it was done, is YOURS. Remember, he is not a party to your contract with the insurance carrier.
So yes, you are still liable to pay the bill.