Credit Card, Please

An Arm and a Leg

Society & Culture, Medicine, Health, Health & Fitness, Documentary

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A listener’s doctor wanted her credit card info up front — before her appointment. She wondered: Do I need to give it to them? We did too.

After all, who wants the risk of being overcharged — and then having to fight for money back?

Experts gave us their best advice, including a couple of tricks to try, and a legal protection you may be able to rely on.

Meanwhile, Elisabeth Rosenthal, senior contributing editor at KFF Health News, filled us in on the rapid growth of medical debt as a financial product, including specialized credit cards and financing plans pushed by hospitals and other providers.

They can come with steep interest rates, and (surprise, surprise) the terms aren’t always spelled out clearly.

The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been issuing reports, including a handy FAQ, but hasn’t taken enforcement action in a decade.

Here’s a transcript of this episode.

Send your stories and questions. Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey there, a listener named Lynn got in touch after she signed up for a dermatology appointment.
0:05.2	When we talked, the story came rushing out.
0:07.7	I don't go to doctors at all, but I'm getting old and getting so many marks on my body.
0:11.3	I've lived near Arizona for 47 years, so I'd better go to skin check.
0:14.7	Yeah, she was a new patient, so there were forms.
0:17.5	And one of the forms says, oh yeah, we're going to need you to put a credit card on fire with us.
0:22.6	Lynn reads it to me.
0:23.6	Well, it says, committed to providing you with exceptional patient care,
0:26.9	we endeavor to make our billing process as simple as efficient,
0:30.4	yabbida, yabbida.
0:31.9	Yeah, it says, well, run your insurance and whatever they say is your responsibility.
0:36.2	We'll just charge it to your card.
0:38.0	Easy peasy.
0:39.1	We'll never even send you a bill.
0:40.8	Your insurance company will send you a note about how the claim got resolved,
0:44.1	and you know, how much we've charged you.
0:46.2	If you think there's a problem, uh, call your insurance company.
0:49.3	I said, I'm not giving you this.
0:50.9	I don't want anything run through my card that I haven't checked out.
0:55.1	Yeah, I mean, Lynn listens to this show.
0:57.8	She had at least a couple of months before her appointment to figure out what to do,
1:01.3	note to self, dermatologist, get booked up in advance,
	...

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