A recent Forbes article discusses how Healthcare affordability is a huge issue right now in the United States. Now more than ever, patients in a variety of different industries such as fertility clinics, surgery centers, behavioral health centers and hospitals are struggling to pay for the care and treatment they need. A recent discusses how Healthcare affordability is a huge issue right now in the United States. Now more than ever, patients in a variety of different industries such as fertility clinics, surgery centers, behavioral health centers and hospitals are struggling to pay for the care and treatment they need.
One of the biggest current issues emerging in the healthcare space is the increasing number of high deductible plans. Kaiser estimates that 20% of workers were enrolled in high deducible plans in 2013, up from 8% in 2009. Paul Ginsburg, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy told the New York Times that many workers may not have a choice but to have a high deductible plan. “If the deductible is very high, all of a sudden the financial protection part of insurance, you are losing that,” he said. “You still have protection against very high claims, but you have people who may have to pay $5,000 during one year toward the cost of their care or more. And a lot of people don’t have that kind of savings.”
Higher deductibles also means higher out of pocket expenses for treatment. The National Business Group on Health has revealed that the average annual out-of-pocket costs have jumped more than 40 percent just in the past three years, from $1,890 per employee in 2011 to $2,649 in 2014. Over the same period, employees’ share of total expenses, which includes both monthly premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, has increased from 34.3 percent to just over 37 percent. Because of these high deductibles many patients are being forced to pay at the point of service or before the treatment. This puts many in a difficult financial situation. It can be very difficult to come up with the funds needed for a procedure that you may desperately need in such a short time.
This is why patient financing in all forms of healthcare is critical. American HealthCare Lending’s patient financing platform allows healthcare providers nationwide to access innovative healthcare technology to Make Healthcare Affordable.™ We do this by offering high-dollar installment loans to individuals with good credit.
American HealthCare Lending’s platform makes it easy to get a loan if you are facing high deductibles and large out of pocket expenses. Our platform also gives healthcare providers the ability to offer financing to patients before treatment, at the point of service, or after the treatment has already been completed. This easy-to-use financing platform can be completed from anywhere on any device, and can be initiated right from the healthcare provider’s website. Patients or a family member or friend can submit an inquiry in less than two minutes and can receive a loan approval in less than 10 seconds without affecting their credit. The financing can be used to pay for elective or other procedures not covered by insurance, insurance deductibles, co-insurance, or any large out-of-pocket expense for any healthcare service.
