Think Twice Before Signing Up for That Medical Credit Card
If you are like most people.you have probably used a credit card to pay some of your medical bills.With rising health costs and gaps in insurance coverage,it’s almost unavoidable.
Patients pay about$45 billion worth of health care costs with plastic,accord—lng to a report from McKinsey&Company.By 2015.that number could morethan triple to an estimated$150 billion.And big finance companies and medicalproviders have taken note.
Companies like GE Money,Citibank and JPMorgan Chase have issued medi—cal credit cards or lines of credit intended to be used specifically for elective healthcare expenses not covered by insurance,including certain dental procedures,Lasiksurgery and some cosmetic surgery.The cards are not used for continuing medicalcare or emergency room visits.
The issuers market these cards not so much to consumers but to doctors.dentists and other health care providers,who in tum offer them to patients as apayment option.Patients like medical credit cards because payments for care canbe spread out over many months and the cards can be used at multiple providers.The providers have embraced them as a way of offloading billing headaches andexpenses.