The Medical Credit Card Trap

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:


The Medical Credit Card Trap

Health care providers are increasingly pushing special credit cards as a way for the cash-strapped under-insured to cover their medical expenses. But then the bills start piling up.

Helaine Olen | August 15, 2007 | web only



Michael Moore's film Sicko opens with the haunting vignette of a man who loses part of two fingers in a sawing mishap. As he lacks both health insurance and a bottomless bank account, hospital authorities give him a choice of which finger to re-attach.

It's a wonder the hospital finance office didn't simply tell Moore's hapless accident victim to apply for a line of credit -- an increasingly popular way for the cash-strapped under-insured to cover their medical expenses. Health-care chains such as Kaleida Health, which includes five hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities in upstate New York, advertise credit cards as a way for patients to commence receiving services. Kaleida helpfully notes that G.E.Money's CareCredit "lets you begin your treatment immediately -- then pay for it over time with low monthly payments that are easy to fit into your monthly budget."

In the years since the failure of President Bill Clinton's health-care reform package, credit cards have come to play an ever-expanding role in the American medical system. Not only do most doctor's offices and hospitals now routinely accept MasterCard and Visa as well as specialized cards like CareCredit, many help patients set up new accounts.

But as use of credit to pay for medical expenses becomes more and more common, a new concern has begun to worry reform advocates and other players in the system: Have we unwittingly given the nation's financial sector a seat at the table when it comes time to once again discuss restructuring our health-care system? The question takes on an even greater urgency with health care shaping up to be a significant issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.

"It's always hard to get through legislative change, and change is even harder if it is going to cost someone money," says Elizabeth Warren, the nationally known bankruptcy expert and co-author of a 2006 study on medical debt. "The consumer finance industry is becoming a stakeholder, and as they increase their profit from people who are struggling to pay their bills, it's going to make needed change much harder to accomplish. This is the central problem with these cards." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_medical_credit_card_trap

[Double T]

1. wallstreet and corporate america need to be removed from "We the People's" health care solution.

[Mythsaje]

2. Best be careful who we nominate then...n/t

[Double T]

3. As for me, NO corporatist need apply.

[Mythsaje]

4. Unfortunately the media is going to shove one down our throat

whether we like it or not.

[Double T]

5. Afraid so. The MSM has already elected and nominated 'our' candidate.