Livy E. Stoyka, DDS, PL Attempted to Over Charge and not fully use my insurance benefits Bradenton Florida

 I recently moved to Bradenton, FL. I found Dr. Stoyka through my insureance carrier. I schedule my intitial appointment cleaning, xrays etc. I also had a tooth that had broken off. 

They first contacted me the day before my appointment saying they needed something from my cardiologist confirming whether or not I need medication before the appointment. The appointment had been made a week before. Knowing I could not get that to them in one day I canceled and re-scheduled the appointment for 2 or 3 weeks later. In the mean time they claimed they were not getting the form and my Cardiologist claimed they were faxing it to them as I was speaking to them. I finally told the receptionist at Dr. Stoyka's office I was tired of calling the two offices and attempting to get something faxed. That if it did not happen in the next 24 hours I would just cancel my appointment and start the whole process over with a new dentist. The form suddently appeared in their office that day.

I go to my appointment Get my teeth cleaned first. I was disappointed because she did not polish them like other dentists have always done. The hygenist immediatly started talking about all my teeth needing work and go to great length to impress upon me that you cannot build a house on quicksand. Dr. Stoyka shows up after the cleaning looks in my mouth briefly, gives me the same speach about needing all this work on my teeth and using the same metaphors. I became suspicous because it start feeling like a hard sell and pressure that I better get this work done. She made eye contact with me once for what seemed less that 2 or 3 seconds if that long. She kept looking up at the ceiling. She did not answer any questions I had and proceeded to deveolp this "treatment plan" with the hygenist. Looked in my mouth one more time for a second or two telling me she was screening my mouth for canser. She looked in there. They then moved me on to the billing person who printed out this "treatment plan" with prices and every thing. Very impressive but very wrong.

My treatment plan consisted of about 8 or 9 visits where most if not all wer going to cost me over 100.00 dollars and ranging up to several thousand. I stated at that time that my insurance should be covering some of that cost. I was informed at that time that my insurance "did not reimburse" and I was entiled to a 25% discount. This woman repeated Dr. Stoyka to the letter about making my mouth healthy and needing the work and so on. It was like they all were rehearsed on this speech. She then informed me that I was getting a break and when it was all over I would be paying out of pocket over 9 thousand dollars and without the discount it would be closer to 20 grand. Again when  I protested and said there must be a mistake about my insurance the billing person refused to consider that might be a mistake and continued to pressure me into agree with them. The final thing was if I couldn't afford to drop a few thousand dollars a visit they could get me approved for a credit card to charge all the fees. After being approved for the credit card, buying a waterpik I nervously left.

I called my insurance company immediately when I returned home. They confirmed that I was over charged for the appointment. I would be over charged for the planned work. That my insurance does in fact reimburse and I should not be charged anything over what they say is my co-pay. I was also charged a 28 dollar "co-pay" as described by the biller and was informed I would have that "office co-pay' each visit. The rep from my insurance said I should not be charged any office copay. My insurance company attempted to call them while I was on the phone but was told the biller was unavailable and she would call them later that day. She did not.  My insurance company said they would contact me once she called them.

I never heard from anyone so the next day I called Dr. Stoyka's office to find that instead of returning the call to my insurance company the biller called their agent and was given a new pay scale which was still overcharging me. when I asked about the "office co-pay" I was then informed it was a discretionary fee by Dr. Stoyka for the office visit and infectious disease control. I was reminded I would pay that each visit.

I also needed to have the broken tooth extracted and they gaveme a referral to an oral surgeon that they said did not accept my insurance but Dr. Stoyka preferred all her patients to see this guy. I was also informed that I owuld be charged 225 dolloars for the extraction. They made the appoitnment for me and reassured me about the charge by saying I could put it on the credit card they got me approved for the previous day. Again after talking to my insurance company I was told the oral surgeon did in fact accept my insurance and the fee should be no more than 75 dollars. I called the oral surgeon and they confirmed they did accept the insurance and they would contact Dr. Stoyka's office to clear up the confusion and get back to me. After I ddin't hear from anyone I called the oral surgeon again and was told the woman I spoke to the day before was wrong and they do not have an account. I canceled the appoitnemtn and called Dr. Stoyka's office and informed them I needed an oral surgeon that accepted my insurance and was not willing to pay 225 dollars for a service that I an get for 75 dollars.  They refuse to help me and referred me back to my insurance company. They also sent me a revised treatment plan with a new pay scale that I found to still be overcharging me.

Once I realized I was going to be overcharged and that Dr. Stoyka and her staff were less than honest. Had pressured me into agreeing to do all this dental work that I may or may not need. I called canceling all future appointments and said I was going to find another dentist. At that point I did not want any further dealings with that dental office. The biller called leaving a message that Dr. Stoyka said she would do the extraction and all work and not refer me out to anyone. I did not return the call because I do not trust her intentions to be in my best interest. The billing person called me a second time and then a third finally from a phone that did not name Dr. Stoyka's office on the caller ID. I told her agian that I was not interested in seeing Dr. Stoyka, because of the pressure to accept her plan which over charged me and that I was over charged  for the service I did recieve. She denied this and said she would inform Dr. Stoyka.

My insurance company helped me find an oral surgeon to extract my tooth and honored my insurance only charging me the 75 dollars. Dr. Stoyka was only interested in getting me in to her practice and getting as much money as possilbe. I strongly urge people not to go to her especially people with HMOs or Medicare. I also urge current patients to review their bills and compare with their insurance. The represnative at my insurance company said that it was good that I checked and compared her fees with my benefits and said the most people will take the word of the dentist and over pay.