Financing options help fill the healthcare access gap

When insurance isn’t enough, consumers turn to financing to receive care.

By CareCredit

November 19, 2024

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With national health expenditures, both public and private spending, projected to climb from $14,423 per person in 2023 to $21,927 per person in 2032,¹ Americans are feeling the pinch when it comes to making decisions on health and wellness care.

Even with health insurance, consumers are being asked to shoulder more responsibility for their health and wellness care in the form of higher premiums, deductibles and copays, along with higher prescription drug prices, which has resulted in the average person paying $1,310 per year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.² Dental insurance can be particularly problematic as there is often no max for out-of-pocket care, even after reaching the deductible.

Healthcare affordability is a barrier to accessing care

In 2023, about half of American adults said it’s difficult to afford healthcare costs, particularly in the current economic environment, and as many as 53 percent of consumers reported delaying medical care due to cost.³

“Even with the costs of healthcare continuing to increase, Americans still recognize the value of overall wellness and want to prioritize maintaining their vision of a good quality of life,” said Jason Helfrich, co-founder and CEO of 100% Chiropractic. “The challenge for many people is that affordability remains a significant barrier.”

According to a study by Synchrony, a leading consumer financial services company, a staggering 80 percent of consumers do not have a dedicated savings account that can be used for healthcare costs and among those who do, almost half say it’s not enough.⁴ Nearly half of Americans have $500 or less in their savings accounts.⁵

Finding options to pay for care

Since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 27, Megan Carlson, now 44, has been prone to falling and in 2019 she fell in her kitchen, landing face-first on the hard floor. She suffered varying degrees of damage to her front teeth. “The dental work needed to fix my teeth was $9,000,” Carlson recalled. Back in 2011, Carlson applied for CareCredit, a credit card used for health and wellness products and services with flexible financing options, to pay for veterinary care, so she knew CareCredit was a good option for her dental needs, especially because her insurance didn’t cover this care.

With the growing cost of care, consumers often turn to their healthcare providers for payment options. Some healthcare providers offer in-house payment plans, which allows flexibility in payment terms that benefits the patient.⁶ However, evidence suggests that these plans are becoming increasingly unsustainable for providers primarily due to an increase in outstanding accounts receivable. In addition, it creates logistical challenges, including the complexity and time associated with managing them, which can be exacerbated by staffing shortages.⁷

In situations where in-house payment options and personal savings are not available, financing solutions can help people pay for health and wellness services over time and eliminate one barrier to care.

Paula Lemond used a financing solution when trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain disorder that triggered intense pain in her teeth and face, required her to have most of her teeth removed. “For years, I couldn’t afford to pay for dentures or partials, even with the help of my insurance,” she said. “Then I decided to try once again, and I was told about CareCredit. It took less than five minutes and I was approved. I chose how I wanted to pay. CareCredit helped me learn how to smile again.”

“CareCredit isn’t a substitute for insurance. Patients should maximize their benefits or first use employer-sponsored vehicles, such as flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts,” said Beto Casellas, CEO of the Health & Wellness business at Synchrony. “But using a credit card like CareCredit can make all the difference in people getting the care they want.”

One option to pay for out-of-pocket costs

Synchrony’s CareCredit credit card has been available to consumers for more than 35 years and has proven to be a valuable resource for many, offering options to pay for care, including plans that defer interest for six to 24 months. Under the deferred interest program, consumers who pay off the entire balance before the end of the promotional period receive care with no interest.

“The ability to offer payment options to patients is not just about helping them pay for care, it’s about helping them access care,” said Stephanie Czuhajewski, MPH, executive director at the Academy of Doctors of Audiology. “This is equally beneficial for providers who are running small businesses and don’t have the means to offer in-house financing to support their patients’ health and wellness goals when insurance isn’t enough.”

Credit cards like CareCredit, which is accepted at more than 270,000 healthcare provider and retail locations, offer consumers convenient and transparent financing options to help make healthcare costs work for nearly any budget. They also provide much-needed flexibility, covering a range of care that includes dental work, audiology services like hearing aids, cosmetic procedures, LASIK eye surgery, veterinary care for pets and much more.

With no easy answers for overcoming the burden of healthcare costs in the United States, financing solutions have emerged as a viable option for consumers to seek out health and wellness services with the peace of mind knowing that they can pay in a way that works best for their budgets. 

To learn more, visit CareCredit’s WellU website, which offers financial health articles and information about options to save and pay for out-of-pocket healthcare costs.