It is easy to get tempted by a medical credit card. Your doctor or dentist offers you this card as a way to pay for the pricey out-of-pocket costs of getting health care services. They automatically bill the card so that you don’t have to pay a co-pay fee on site. The cards typically come with a 0% interest rate on all of the charges for 12 months. Your line of thinking is, “I can’t afford to pay this bill right now but I can surely pay it off within twelve months.”

The problem is that medical credit cards come with so many problems that the stress they create can actually further compromise your health.

Flaws of Medical Credit Cards

• Doctors may charge you for procedures in advance.
  A common practice with medical credit cards is that the doctor will charge the card immediately for all of the services that you will receive. If you have to have a lot of work done, this can mean a huge charge on the card for care that hasn’t even been provided. For example, I had a dentist charge me $8,000 on one of these cards for work that was to be completed over the next 6-8 months. That’s $8,000 that loomed over me for services that I ultimately decide not even to get.
• There is temptation to get more services than you need.
  It’s easy to overspend on a credit card. That’s true of medical credit cards as well. It’s a lot more tempting to agree to unnecessary medical procedures if you’re charging them to a card.
• Your interest rate may not stay at 0%.
  This is a risk that you always run with 0% interest rate cards. If you’re ever late on a payment or otherwise violate the terms of the agreement, you suddenly find yourself paying a much higher interest rate. In my experience, “payment processing problems” are more common with these types of cards resulting in faulty late payment charges when you actually paid on time. Although these issues can usually be resolved, they create stress when paying off medical credit cards.
• It adds a new credit card to your life.
  Medical credit cards typically can’t be used for any other purchases so it’s not a multi-purpose card. Adding another credit card to your life causes problems including increased likelihood of financial disorganization and even increased risk of identity theft.
• It impacts your credit report.
  Your credit report will reflect this charge as a consumer credit purchase rather than a medical debt which can lower your credit score.

Your health isn’t like a consumer purchase. You can tell yourself that you should wait to buy a car or a new TV until you have the cash in hand. You can’t do that with most of your medical care. That’s why it’s so tempting to get a medical credit card. However, you should look for alternatives instead. Try to work out a payment plan with your medical care provider or use an existing low-interest credit card that you already know you can trust.