The commercials may sound wonderful, but unfortunately, patients are being victimized by medical credit cards. The cards, issued by specialty finance companies and commercial banks, carry huge interest rates after an initial zero interest period expires. There are also heavy penalties for late payments.
Questions:
1. What types of services can be paid for with Care Credit?
2. How high can the interest rate go and why are there numerous civil lawsuits against these lenders?
3. What was the agreement that New York’s attorney general reached with Care Credit and how do you think that Care Credit should record the refunds to customers in their accounting records via the appeals process?
4. Explain the conflict of interest situation that occurs with these cards.
Source:
Editorial Board. (2013). Alarming Abuses of Medical Credit Cards. The New York Times, Oct. 19 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/opinion/sunday/alarming-abuses-of-medical-credit-cards.html?adxnnl=1&src=recg&adxnnlx=1382700638-8mBq2p+THWPCPZvaAb8aCg)