U.S. Health Care Just Plain Sucks!

Here's an American insurance/medical scam. Just before Christmas, I had a nasty toothache, so I needed to get the root canal immediately. I found an "in network" dentist who could do the work. The first visit she cleaned out any infection, and because I just joined the network, my info wasn't in Cigna's database for the dentist to query, so I was forced to pay with a check the full amount of $300. Fine, so I came back that same Saturday, and had the final part of the root canal finished, coming in at mere $750.00. Again, it was a Saturday, so no getting the info from the network database, so I had to pay out of pocket, stating to the dentist that I would want her to file a claim to compensate me for my expenses. Months go by, and I asked the dentist to file the claim immediately so that I could receive compensation. So she did. A few weeks goes by, and I receive a letter from Cigna, stating that the dentist received $646.00 in compensation for the dental work. I was vexed. This dentist filed a claim for herself, not only receiving my $1050.00, but an additional $646.00 from the health insurance company.
I filed a complaint with Cigna, and they repeatedly ignored my claim, and said that I would have to get my money back from the dentist, after asking the dentist repeatedly, and she refused to pay me my money. Cigna, stated it was not there problem, and since the dentist filed an electronic claim, I was authorizing them to receive the compensation allocation. I didn't authorize anything.
I ended up having to file a complaint with my state's wonderful insurance fraud investigative authority. In 3 months I finally got a letter from them stating that the insurance company requested that the dentist pay me the $646. I still have to wait, and now that $646 is worth nothing, since I've waited almost 4 months for it. The American Health care system is just as much a scam as any other business in America. It's what happens when the people put money before everything else in life.