Teacher ‘infuriated’ by medical credit card pitched as payment plan

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. (Aging Untold) — A growing number of Americans are turning to medical payment plans or credit cards to pay off medical debt, but experts caution that not reading the fine print can cost consumers.

Kerry Morgan is house-hunting for her forever home in Texas.

The Apache Junction, Arizona, woman said she wanted to be closer to family with a new grandbaby on the way.

“Now, with the credit hit, I’m probably postponed a few more months,” Morgan said.

To understand that credit hit, we have to go back to January 2025.

Medical credit card issued

Morgan went to the emergency room. On her way to the hospital, she was told her bill would be more than $700.

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t have that. Can I be on a payment plan?’ They said, ‘Sure. Let me take a look,’” she recalled. “They came back with $30 a month and I said, ‘OK, perfect,’ and they said, ‘You should get an email.’”

A couple of days later, Morgan got an alert.

“I got a hit on my credit saying somebody did a hard look at my credit, and of course I was freaking out, like what is going on?” she said. “Come to find out, it was Banner (Health), ran my credit and signed me up for a credit card to put the payments on.”

Then, a credit card showed up in the mail. Morgan said she never asked for it and never signed anything.

“Not a thing,” she said. “I’m infuriated.”

On its website, Banner Health touts its relationship with a “vendor” that offers credit, which can be used at “participating Banner Health locations.”

“We are starting to see them (medical credit cards) marketed in more and more health care settings,” Patricia Kelmar, the health care director for the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, said.

“Oftentimes they have a zero-interest introductory rate, is what they call it, but the interest is significantly higher than you would see on a regular credit card, and if you miss a payment or don’t pay it off, the full balance, in a certain period of time, the interest is retroactive.”

There’s another potential problem if you use a medical credit card, according to Kelmar.

“Now, you owe the money to a bank, not to the provider. The provider’s been fully paid. If you find out that you were misbilled, now the argument is not with your provider anymore. You’ve lost that ability to fix that error,” Kelmar cautioned.

Like Morgan, a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows “patients report being signed up without their consent or knowledge.”

“Our health care professionals should not be marketing financial products to us in the health care setting,” Kelmar said. “It’s just a bad idea.”

Morgan said in her case the unwanted and entirely unexpected credit card dinged her credit score by 16 points.

“I was devastated, and then the more I called trying to talk to someone, ‘Hey, you can’t do this. This is illegal,’ I heard from billing agents this happens every day,” she said.

When the InvestigateTV investigators asked if this is a known issue affecting more people than Morgan, a spokesperson for Banner Health emailed a statement saying, “Banner Health takes these concerns seriously. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss patient matters publicly.”

Morgan said Banner Health contacted her after being contacted by the investigators and the hospital wiped out an $814 bill and discounted another bill by 50%.

Curae, the company that issued the card, said it would also reach out to the credit bureaus to reverse the hard inquiry on Morgan’s credit.

Now, the house hunt is back on track.

What to know if you’re facing a medical bill you can’t pay in full

If you are facing a medical bill you can’t pay in full, there are three things you need to know.

• First, you should be able to set up a payment plan directly through the health care provider.
• Second, ask for everything in writing so there are no surprises.
• Third, ask for time to consider your options before you agree to anything.

Amy O’Rourke, an aging expert, advises having someone with you as soon as you can if you’re in an emergency room.

“When you’re sick or hurt, you’re vulnerable, and so having somebody else there, even if they’re there just for the paperwork, to prevent you from creating a problem like that one,” she said.

Read more here.