Several federal agencies have announced plans to scrutinize medical credit cards, loans and other financial products used to pay for health care. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of the Treasury jointly released a request for information about the prevalence and nature of these products, as well as their impact on consumers and consumer protections.
"This inquiry builds on the department's work to protect patients from unfair billing practices, lower costs and increase transparency in our health-care system," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. "Hearing directly from patients about their experiences will help shape policies that can prevent families from incurring medical debt."
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Medical payment products once were used primarily to pay for care not traditionally covered by health insurance plans, such as dental and vision care, fertility services and cosmetic surgery. However, they now are used to also pay for a broader set of services, including emergency room visits and primary and specialty care. Even when medical care otherwise may be covered by insurance or financial assistance, patients may be pitched these products by their health-care providers, who then pass the administration of patient billing and collections on to financial service companies.
Specifically, the agencies are requesting information about:
- The specialty medical payment product market. The agencies are interested in data and comments about the interest and fee costs for these products, as well as in understanding their marketing, application and approval processes.
- Patient experiences and downstream consequences. The agencies want to know more about these products' risks and whether consumers fully understand them. The risks of paying medical bills using a medical payment product may include loss of medical bill negotiating power, aggressive debt collection practices, lawsuits and loss of credit reporting protections.
- Billing and financial assistance issues. The agencies want to learn more about how medical credit cards and loans may exacerbate existing issues in health-care billing and collections.
- Health-care provider incentives. The agencies want to learn more about incentives offered to providers to promote medical payment products, as well as how those incentives affect the promotion of these products by providers to patients.
Related: Biden administration cautions Americans about medical credit cards
The CFPB encourages comments and data from the public and all interested stakeholders. Comments must be received within 60 days of the request for information being published in the Federal Register. Comments close September 11, 2023.
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Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
