Consumer Reports: Patients 'Overdose' on Debt As Lenders, Doctors, and Hospitals Push Risky Credit to Pay for Me...(obtaincharity care. Ask questions first...),Health

FACING FORECLOSURE AND OTHER PERSONAL STORIES

The CR report tells several personal stories of consumers who fell into medical credit traps:

-- A Virginia couple struggled with a $13,000 credit card debt for bills

stemming from treatment of complications for the husband's cancer.

-- A Florida family faced home foreclosure after incurring thousands of

dollars in medically related credit card debt to pay for their

daughter's intestinal surgery and nine hospitalizations.

-- A New York City teenager whose dentist pressured her mother into

borrowing more than $7,000 through CapitalOne Healthcare Finance and

then promptly proceeded to perform five root canals on the girl in one

day.

CALLS FOR SCRUTINY

The growing ties between the lending and health-care industries are attracting legislative scrutiny because most of the nation's hospitals are tax-exempt and expected to provide charity care. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, is among those demanding clear requirements for charity care that hospitals must provide to qualify for tax exemptions. Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, supports that effort.

WHAT CONSUMERS CAN DO TO AVOID MEDICAL CREDIT TRAPS

Consumers should be aware that hospitals are required by federal law to provide care in a medical emergency. But patients should not let themselves be pressured into using a credit card or loan to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs. Once they do, they lose their ability to negotiate the repayment amount and terms. CR offers the
'/>"/>