Insurance Education :: Be skeptical of health-care credit cards

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Released: August 31, 2010

Be skeptical of health-care credit cards

Source: Michelle Andrews, Washington Post (Free Registration)

These days, you may leave your dentist’s office with more than a toothbrush and dental floss in your bag. Thousands of dentists are offering patients health-care credit cards to cover the work that needs to be done, with seemingly hard-to-resist repayment terms. If you need care and don’t have insurance to cover it or cash in hand, it’s tempting to sign up.

But beware: Many of the card companies and some of the practitioners who offer them are under scrutiny for deceptive and sometimes fraudulent practices. Think hard and read the fine print before you sign on the dotted line.

This month, New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced an investigation into the health-care lending industry. The probe grew out of hundreds of complaints received by his office from people who had used the cards for dental work and for elective medical treatments often not covered by insurance, such as cosmetic surgery, chiropractic treatments, Lasik eye surgery and hearing procedures.

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