In this week’s cover story for BusinessWeek, Fresh Pain for the Uninsured, the author discusses a growing trend in healthcare where uninsured and underinsured patients are financing their healthcare through third parties such as GE or Capital One. Collections for self pay patients have often been difficult for hospital administrators. Many facilities (even nonprofit hospitals) are transferring the debt to commercial banks where the patient can end up getting charged extravagant interest rates. One possible solution for millions of Americans is addressed in my new book, 7 Steps to Your Best Possible Healthcare, and it lists 10 resources for the uninsured. The book also contains information that patients can utilize to find free or lower cost healthcare.

For instance under the Hill-Burton Act there are over 300 hundred facilities in the US that are required to provide a reasonable amount of free services for those who can not afford payment.