Below is a comment I received the other day. I will say these kind are few and far between but they show the ignorance of some people. I wonder if Nancy ever stopped to wonder just where a dentist got the kind of money the DeRose's portray they have. Giving millions here, hundreds of thousands there, establishing million dollar endowments at Universities etc. For heavens sake Michael and Eddie were just dentists! Nancy needs to get a clue. I bet there are a few of my readers who would love to enlighten Ms. Mastreno.
Eery so often someone recognizes something that is not proper and then speaks out about it. Those that are in the know will support that person. Those that are not will point fingers and deride them as having a grudge or a bone to pick.
The fact is that Medicaid systems are being abused on a BIG BIG scale in every state nation wide. Small Smiles and Kool Smiles and what ever othe rkind of smiles there are are tapping in to these Medicaid systems in a BIG way.
Medicaid has always been considered as an easy way to make a buck. And even in dental school Medicaid patients were and are only regarded as a redily available source of people to practice on.
These Medicaid mills like Small Smiles and others are not interested in some humanitarian mission to cure dental disease. Do not be fooled. It will never be cured. And this population of people just keeps on growing. These dental clinics are only interested in making as much money as they can from Medicaid. The dentists at these places are largely unskilled and mostly uncaring. They are only interested in the dollar. They know that Medicaid generally does not watch them. If their treatments fail- they just charge for another procedure. The patient population is unaware of what is going on. Sure some may receive decent treatment. But they are largely outnumbered by those that are traumatized and over-treated and such.
Do not be fooled Nancy. You may have been acquanted with the DeRose family. But there are corporations that are running these places. They have marketing people and others who lobby Medicaid. They have teams of people who sit all day and figure out how to make as much as they can as quickly and cheaply as they can. They are not interested in healthcare. They are operating under that guise to tap in to the HUGE medicaid honey pot that you are paying in to by working hard to earn a paycheck.
Medicaid systems have been abused forever. It is only when you hear about the ocassional dentist or physician who gets busted for it that you may take notice- for a while. But Medicaid fraud and other abuses is happening every day.
These places are not owned by dentists. They are owned by corporations. No dentist can legitimately make as much money as these organizations are making by doing dentistry. No dentist can afford to repay 10 million dollars, or 1/2 million dollars, in medicaid fraud repayments.
These places work on high volume production line mentalities and use economy of scale to full advantage. And they market to the unsuspecting populations of Medicaid recipients and others who are not in the know.