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Many hospitals offer extended payment plans, often with no interest. But these plans are short term, usually less than a year, and many patients simply cannot afford to make the payments over such a short period of time. The credit cards, even with the high interest rates, allow the patients to take as long as the care to or need to to pay the bills. Granted, it doesn’t take much math to see that a short term, interest-free deal beats a long-term deal at high interest, but patients seem happy with the arrangement. It works well for the hospitals, as they get paid right away. This is often a problem with payment through insurance companies, which can often take months, or even years, to resolve some bills.
There are some deadbeats, and the hospital has to eat those bills from the non-paying patients, but on the whole, the programs are breaking even. Bills that remain unpaid are sent to the usual collection agencies, just as they would be for any other unpaid bill. While some hospitals have offered these cards since the early 1990’s, the trend seems to be picking up as health care costs continue to be among the main concerns of Americans.
Health insurance was first offered as a benefit during a post-World War II wage freeze. Over the years it has become sort of an expected benefit, but as time goes on and costs increase, more and more employers are either cutting back on their coverage or getting out of offering it completely. This, combined with the continued disinterest from Congress, has many Americans looking for other ways to pay their spiraling medical bills. It looks like the solution to paying for these services may be the same as those for paying for anything else - a credit card, a promise to pay later, and mountains of credit card debt.
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