As a result of the growing market for solutions for consumers to pay their increasingly high healthcare expenditures, another payment arrangement has evolved.
KPJ Healthcare, a Malaysian specialist healthcare company, said Thursday (Nov 10) that it has worked with merchant commerce platform Pine Labs to create a new zero-interest installment payment plan for consumers.
The companies define their collaboration as a new pay-over-time option that will be available through POS terminals at KPJ hospitals for purchases of $100 or more for up to 24 months using a debit or credit card.
“Managing Healthcare Costs: How Patients Use Payment Plans,” a study report, underlines the importance of payment plans in healthcare.
According to the survey, 19% of patients who live paycheck to paycheck have difficulty paying bills and have set up a payment plan. These same folks are also quite inclined to switch healthcare providers in search of a better payment experience.
This new BNPL option for healthcare bill payments provides those patients with a new, and perhaps more inexpensive, option for repaying their medical debt.
This collaboration between KPJ and Pine Labs is also the first time a BNPL service has been given in Malaysian hospitals.
Pine Labs also just disclosed that its online payments processing segment Plural are expected to increase 10 to 15 times in the next two years, earning $4 to $5 billion in monthly transactions in the same time period.