Can a warrant be taken out for me for a stop payment on a check?

Question

I went to get 2 wisdom teeth pulled. I gave my insurance cards and went to get the procedure done. Afterward I was told my insurance didn't cover me& I was to pay the total amt. I wrote them a check for the amt they said I owed. I went home & called the insurance comp. they said the dentist office called during the time frame I was in the office & that they were going to pay 60%. I called the dentist office & asked to have my check back & that I'll bring over the difference from what the insurance was to pay. the lady got nasty & said no. I then asked if I could have an itimized bill so I could be reimbursed & she said they don't give itimized bills. This was my only way of being reimbursed from the insurance comp. So I stopped payment on my check because not only did they charge me, they billed my ins. comp. too. I eventually got my statement showing the ins. comp. paid 60%. I called to pay what I owed, and was still told I owed the full amt. I now have a warrant for me.isthis legal??

Answer 1

I would follow up with your insurance company just to make sure that a check has been issued for the 60%.  It's possible that it wasn't, which would explain why the dentist office wants you to pay the full amount.  If for whatever reason your insurance company did not send the check, or the dentist's office did not receive it, you are legally accountable for the full amount due.

1. If your insurance company did issue a check, they should also be able to confirm whether it has been cashed.  If the dentist's office has cashed the check, follow up with your lawyer.  If the check has not been cashed, contact the dentist's office, confirm whether they have received the check, and have your insurance company re-issue the check if they have not.

2. If your insurance company has not issued a check, find out why.  If you can get them to issue a check, wait a week, and then follow steps 1.  If they will not issue a check, I would pay the dentist's office in full, and then deal with the insurance company to get reimbursement for the 60%.  They can always make the check payable to you.  

This is just my opinion on how to best handle the situation, keep yourself out of trouble, do your besst to get it taken care of, etc.  I hope this helps!

Answer 2

that's a legal issue.  the insurance answer is NEVER pay a bill until you've seen the explanation of benefits from the insurance company.

Send them a kind letter requesting a bill for the amount you owe and cc the insurance company wondering why you still owe the "full" amount after they've already been partially reimbursed.  Claim that you're not paying until you get an itemized bill as it sounds as if they're "trying to get paid more than what they are due."  Also kindly explain that you were treated rudely and don't feel as though you need to pay anything until the amount is properly explained in a "professional manner."

Good luck

Answer 3

Yes, it is. You paid for a service via a check, then stopped payment.   That's criminal.  

You're going to have to, at the very least, pay the amount you owe, and go to the police to get this straightened out.

Answer 4

A warrant means a criminal charge and that you are going to be arrested.  You need to get a lawyer now.  Do not depend on Internet advice for this.

Do not communicate with the dentist's office by telephone unless instructed by an attorney hired by you.  Do everything in writing and save copies for court.

You will have to go to court, but you seem to have a fairly strong case to win when you get there.  Leave out all the stuff about who is "nasty".  The law does not care about politeness and it is too subjective to prove.  The key issue is this: The check was payment for a bill that you learned (after you wrote the check) had already been paid.  That was a legitimate reason to stop payment.  The statement from the insurance company shows that a payment was made and that the actual amount you owed was less than the amount of the check.

The problem lies in stopping payment on the entire check when you did owe some money.  You would have a stronger case if you had paid your 40%, or at least had stopped payment on only 60% of the check.  Even if the dentist will not let you pay the 40% that you owe by phone, you should send them a payment for the 40% that you owe.  (Make sure to send it certified, return receipt requested, because you make them sound like the sort of dishonest persons who will deny receiving it.)

Discuss with the lawyer the possibility of you bringing a civil suit against the dentist's office for (a) the amount you have to pay the lawyer, (b) fraud, (c) anything else the lawyer can suggest.

Answer 5

Have all payments documented.  Just disburse the 40% with an attachment proving that the insurance paid 60%.  There is a bank charge on their part for the check that you put on stop payment, maybe about $25-35 (depending on their bank).  You cannot be held liable also for this bank charge if in the first place you advised them that you want your check back and will pay only the part that you owed unless it was late when you told them that you want your check back.  You can also file a counter suit for all the inconvenience they gave you.

Try to get some information from these sites:

www.surelyinsured.com

www.legalisticminds.com

Answer 6

I would have paid the whole thing and taken them to small claims court. It was not a good idea to stop payment on a check.

Answer 7

You have a warrant, are you sure?  Do you have paperwork from the courts?

This would be a business dispute, not a bad check issue.

The dentist office incorrectly asked you to pay 100%. You found out that amount was incorrect. You asked to pay the correct amount and they refused so you had to put a stop payment on a check.

You need to get this sorted out.

First thing is to send a SHORT letter listing the things that occurred.  State that the payment on the check was stopped due to their error in billing and they were asked not to take payment that they knew would result in double dipping.

a>