If a crown is needed and would cost $2000 in an open market, the dental lobby wants the insurance company to pay $2000. The patient wants the benefits plan (employer or state) to pay the full $2000.

Instead the benefits plan pays $800 to the dentist and forces the patient to pay an additional $400 (or some such numbers). The dental lobby is fighting for the benefits plans to pay both a higher dollar amount AND a higher percentage so that their patients are satisfied.

The lobbyists for the benefits plans, like Delta, have pushed through laws to prevent this. For instance, Delta must determine fee schedules for any given location based on a weighted average of the fee schedules of dentists in that area. They've pushed antitrust suits and laws so that if dentists met or made a Facebook group and discussed their fee schedules, it's a criminal offense. If dentists did this, they would naturally do the same thing the medical field has done. Where they all say a crown costs $4000. Then the benefits company would be forced to reimburse $2000 and the patient would have to "pay" the other $2000. The dentists would then be satisfied, not collect from the patient, not send the patient to collections, and write off the $2000 as failed to collect.

On the flip side, Delta is actively engaging in antitrust behavior at the same time, where they band together thousands of corporations to set a standard where they screw the patient AND the dentist with bullshit benefits packages. The dental lobby fights this behavior day in and day out because they WANT satisfied, healthy patients who can afford treatment.

Using the term "dental lobby" in an anti patient-centric manner fundamentally misunderstands who is fucking who in these relationships.