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Credit Cards

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How Doctors Are Pushing Medical Credit Cards on Patients

January 14, 2025, Time Magazine

Medical credit cards may seem like a boon to both patients and providers. Doctors’ offices can get paid up front without needing to chase down clients for billing or insurance reimbursement, while customers can get approved on the spot to finance procedures they might not otherwise be able to afford. The “deferred interest” component, which touts zero-interest loans during the promotional window, may also appeal to customers at a moment when interest rates are high. CareCredit is not the only medical credit card—others include ScratchPay, Alphaeon Credit, and HealthiPlan.

Some cards can come with startling terms and hidden costs, consumer-protection advocates say. If consumers don’t pay off the balance of their card in the promotional period, they are charged all the interest that would have accrued since the original purchase date, at rates that can top 30%. CareCredit is the subject of a lawsuit seeking class-action status that was filed in New York in August 2024. It argues the card’s interest rates—32.99% in May 2024—violate state usury laws, which cap interest rates on loan payments. (Synchrony told TIME it could not comment about that lawsuit.)

Zhao’s experience is not just the story of a bad encounter with a medical provider. It highlights the way medical credit cards are increasingly pushed on patients across America as the costs of health, dental, and veterinary procedures rise. 

CareCredit had 12 million cardholders and 270,000 participating providers in 2024, up from 4.4 million cardholders and 177,000 participating providers a decade prior, according to a May 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). “The growing promotion and use of medical cards and installment loans,” the CFPB wrote, “can increase the financial burden on patients who may pay more than they otherwise would pay and may compromise medical outcomes.” Revenue for the medical patient-financing industry was $15.3 billion in 2023, according to a report by the research firm IBISWorld, which found that as health care becomes less affordable due to rising premiums and insurance gaps, more patients are turning to medical loans or installment plans.

DYI:  As we all know so well that medical costs have been rising decade after decade far faster than the rate of inflation.  Once this peaks the industrial medical complex will experience a major recession as their customers will be tapped out unable to take on any more additional debt.  Debt saturation due to excessive costs in all areas is growing at an ever growing rate pushing more and more of our citizens out of the middle class and increasing our homelessness population.