Healthy Financing or Financial Strain?
Is a Medical Credit Card Right for You? Medical expenses have steadily risen over the years, and individuals who have undergone extensive and invasive procedures have felt the cost increase. Even with insurance and payment plans, these expenses can drain your bank account in a few short months. To combat these charge accounts is relatively apparent, and the benefits coordinator or salesperson who tries to get you to sign up will focus heavily on these positives. If approved, you can put some or all of the medical expenses on the card and pay it off over time. Most
of these financing companies will offer 6–18 months of zero interest, so it can be an excellent option for people who can manage their credit and have the funds to pay it off in the allotted time. The problem with that interest-free period is if you miss or, in some cases, are late on a payment, the interest begins to accrue immediately. That interest is no joke, either! It’s often upward of 25%, and once that tacks on, it will feel like you’ll never be able to pay off the account.
this, many health care providers have started offering medical credit card accounts to help spread the cost over time. If a doctor, dentist, or medical specialist has recommended a pricey but necessary treatment, they may have offered to open a CareCredit or Synchrony account in your name. As tempting as it might be, you need to educate yourself about the fine print before signing up. Like everything in life, there are good and bad sides to opening a medical credit card to pay for treatment. The good side of
professionals who push them only have their own interests in mind. They don’t care if you’re already in extreme debt or live off a fixed income. Once you sign that agreement and treatment has been provided, there’s no backing out. Take some time to think about the terms of the credit contract and your other options before enrolling in a medical credit card. If you’re not in the best financial situation, it may cause more harm than good.
Another thing to remember is that these credit card companies and some medical
Lawsuits Every Cancer Patient Should Know About
If You’re Sick, You Could Be Compensated!
• Cancer-Causing Baby Powder — Johnson & Johnson’s talc- based baby powder is allegedly linked to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. In April 2023, the company agreed to pay over $8.9 billion to 60,000 people sickened by its products. • Potentially Deadly Hair Straighteners — A 2022 National Institutes of Health study found a correlation between women’s use of chemical hair-straightening products and their frequency of uterine cancer. Law firms nationwide are actively taking clients for these cases, and we’ll likely see court battles soon. • Dangerous Weed Killer — According to Forbes, the agrochemical company Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) has settled over 100,000 lawsuits worth $11 billion related to its Roundup weed killer. Victims claim the weed killer causes blood cancers, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. If you or someone you know is struggling with one of these cancers or one you think can be traced back to its manufacturer, reach out to a lawyer for help. Depending on your situation, attorneys can fight these cases as a class action, mass tort, workers’ compensation, or personal injury claim like Deanne’s. The sooner you seek legal help, the faster you’ll get justice.
In May 2022, a California woman named Deanne Warren won a $43 million lawsuit. Her argument was simple: She was sick, and the company her husband worked for was to blame. That might seem like thin reasoning, but there’s a long history of patients successfully suing over their illnesses. Deanne won her
case because her legal team proved her pleural mesothelioma (a type of lung
cancer) could be traced back to her carpenter husband’s work. He installed asbestos-filled doors over 40 years ago for Algoma Hardwoods in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Illnesses like cancer often strike at random — but when scientists can tie them back to a
cause (like asbestos), there are legal ways to hold the at-fault company or product accountable. Nationwide, millions
of Americans have made legal arguments like Deanne’s, blaming the people they worked for, the products they used, and even the U.S. government for their cancers. Here are just a few of them.
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