Using Credit Cards For Doctors Bills

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

In recent years, as medical health costs rise it has been found that credit cards are being used more and more to cover the costs associated with medical treatments. This is having a major impact on the credit ratings of patients who wind up having expensive medical procedures and discover only after the fact that their medical insurance coverage did not look after the bill.

Just about every one realizes that a medical emergency can happen to any one at any time. Most people wishing to mitigate the risk of a medical problem causing financial crises invest in health insurance. This insurance is supposed to come into play during an illness and cover the costs of treatment. What people may not realize is that this coverage is not always paid when it is supposed to be. When this occurs the medical services provider will often demand payment directly from the patient.

Most people want to keep their doctors happy and pay these bills using their credit card. They are in fact using their credit card as an emergency form of insurance. Credit cards are designed for convenience not for economy. By suddenly placing these huge charges on the credit card the consumer is subjecting themselves to high interest charges that may in fact be very difficult to pay off. In some cases these patients do not even realize that their insurance company should have paid for these charges in the first place and may in fact simply be processing it late.

To make maters even worse it has been found that there are cases where a medical institution has in fact collected for the same medical procedure twice. Once from the insurance company and a second time from the patient directly. This practice is considered illegal in most places yet it is not often caught.

Consumers in this day and age need to be very cognizant of what type of insurance they are purchasing and who they are purchasing it from. Some institutions are very slow to pay and this can often lead to financial issues for the patient. It is also essential to know who it is that is providing you with medical services. The need to know for medical reasons is obvious but the need to know for financial considerations is often overlooked. Always make sure you are dealing with a well respected medical professional that is above board and has an excellent reputation.