Financing Health Care – Not with Credit Cards
by Mr Credit CardThis is a guest post by Chris Metler from www.comparecards.com. Chris is going to tell us that there is a better alternative to take care of medical bills other to charging to the credit card. You can subscribe to Chris’s blog feeds here.
Medical expenses are a major cause of bankruptcy and putting non-emergency charges on a credit care could be disastrous. Term loans for health care are a better solution.
A Better Option than Plastic for Medical Costs
Being unable to pay for needed medical or dental care for ourselves or a family member is a heart breaker. Even people with good medical insurance are being hit with ever larger co-pays and deductibles and procedures that seem very necessary to those who need them are often viewed as “elective” by the insurance company and thus ineligible for coverage.
It is hard to weigh dollars against care when hip pain is debilitative or a child needs braces, but medical bills are a major reason for bankruptcy in this country and putting $2,000 for desperately needed dentures on the MasterCard can be a budget buster.
There is, however, a slightly better option than plastic for financing medical costs. A few companies offer health care financing specifically for procedures such as orthodontia, plastic surgery (it isn’t necessarily vanity driven), vision care, or fertility treatments and, providing your credit is good, at a lower cost than putting the charges on a credit card.
MyMedicalLoan.com grants loans ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 with fixed rates starting at 5.9 percent for a 12 to 84 month term. On-line information about their programs is skimpy but it appears a doctor must be a participant with MyMedicalLoan.com for a patient to qualify for a loan.
GE Capital did offer this financing but that portion of their website is dead so the program may be a victim of the turmoil enveloping the company.
CapitalOne Healthcare Finance has a very large network of providers. They will loan from $1,000 to $40,000 for 3 to 84 months. Interest rates range from 1.99 to 25.99 percent and there is a no-interest loan available.
With both of these companies the paperwork is originated through the doctor’s office and I have found that their staff is pretty well informed about the program.
Now, here come the caveats.
First, as is always the case, the lowest rates will go to those with the best credit who choose to pay the fastest. For example, CapitalOne offers 1.99 percent interest only for loans with an 18 month term. The interest free loans are limited to a maximum of 24 months but your provider is charged a fee for offering the no-interest options and I suspect that the fee increases with the length of loan they can promote.
And, of course, if the loan is not paid off in the agreed-upon time frame the rate on the unpaid balance defaults to 22.99 percent so if you don’t think you can meet the deadline, stick with the MasterCard – or your original teeth.