Medical credit card debt has been around basically since the inception of credit cards, but as time goes on things are getting worse, not better. As more companies enter the medical credit card market, the need for laws and regulation increase. In a recent inquiry by the New York State Attorney General's office, a settlement was reached requiring the medical credit card provider to modify its practices by limiting charges, requiring clearer disclosures of higher interest rates and not giving kickbacks, rebates, compensation, or in-kind services to any health care provider in exchange for its success in generating card business.
According to the settlement agreement, this numbers are staggering for just this one medical credit card provider:
- issued its credit cards to more than 535,000 people through 7,800 medical providers just in New York state.
- an average of 68 credit card holders per medical practice
- has approximately 160,000 health care providers under contract
- Using the state of New York as a baseline, that works out to almost 11 MILLION PEOPLE charging their medical procedures and care to high interest credit cards provided by this company.
This is not good for the state of our economy. Not only are these numbers shocking, when you put them together with the penalty interest rates the cardholders are charged if they do not pay off their balance during the "promotion" period it creates a situation that is ideal for the medical credit card provider and terrible for everyone else. According to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman,
"The explosion of medical credit card debt is a major concern for many New Yorkers, particularly low and middle-income households and vulnerable seniors. The problem is made even worse by those who encourage high-pressure sales tactics in our health care settings and companies who charge outlandishly high interest rates."
An Alternative to High Interest Medical Credit Cards
The MyLoans™ software allows banks and medical providers to work together to provide patients with fast access to a medical loan at a fair and unchanging interest rate, provided by a federally insured and fully regulated financial institution. The medical providers still get immediate funding of their accounts receivables. The bank gets a new customer and interest income in exchange for servicing the loan. So in a time when medical credit card companies are taking advantage of the lack of options available to patients, MyLoans™ provides an opportunity for banks and medical providers to work together and provide a much better alternative for patients.
About MyLoans™
By providing patients with fast access to medical loans at a fair and unchanging interest rate, the MyLoans™ software by Epic River enables financial institutions to ease the financial stress of health care through collaboration with medical providers. Not only can medical providers offer a federally insured and fully regulated financial agreement between banks and patients for medical care needs, but doctors and hospitals alike can finally get immediate funding of their patient’s outstanding balances. Additionally, financial institutions gain new customers and interest income with little administrative overhead in exchange for servicing the loan. For more information, visit www.myloans.co.
About Epic River, LLC
Since its inception in 2005, Epic River has been providing high quality software services aimed at solving process-intensive problems. With a focus on high quality and rapid delivery, Epic River’s methodology accelerates the process of innovation while keeping a firm grasp on the business case behind the application, enabling our partners to grow their market leadership. The company’s unique approach to the agile methodology and user experience ensures both parties work closely together every step of the way. Whether you’re looking to expand into new technologies or markets, need a custom internal tool, assistance with architecture, or simply need someone you can trust to make technology decisions, Epic River is at your service. For more information, visit www.epicriver.com.
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