Casualty Taking Credit Cards

In America now the ER departments are starting to take credit cards. This is because their version of the NHS is poor and does not support people who are poor adequately. Therefore even many working class people have health insurance to cover them.

But for people who do not then what happens if you or your family have an accident. You may not get the care and attention you need. For this reason many hospitals are thinking of taking credit cards. This will help poorer people who can either pay for care they need on their card or get a family member or friend who does have card to pay the hospital to get superior care in the event of an emergency.

You may think what does this have to do with me I live in the UK with a casualty department at my local hospital, but have you been to casualty recently? You can wait up to 12 hours to be seen by a doctor or nurse. Maybe if casualty took credit cards you could go to a private hospital and put it on your card. This would be much more convenient than waiting hours. This is one of the advantages of credit cards. Maybe soon we will see this service in private hospitals in the UK.

There is the flip side to this. The bigger picture if you like. Some might say that it puts less pressure on the government to improve the NHS. Others would say it is just helping to fuel the debt problem in the UK. There is no doubt that the standard of living has improved in the UK over the last 20 years. Much of this is debt financed with credit cards being the fastest growing part of this problem. The thing is, many people would say credit cards are not all bad if they are used sensibly. They can give us financial help when we need it and can help to cash flow when we get unexpected expenses, but it is important to look around for the best credit card and you can do this by looking at our comparison table on this site. Also use credit cards with restraint. Don’t buy new things all the time just because you have space left on your card balance.