Another payment arrangement has emerged as a result of the rising market for options for people to pay their increasingly expensive healthcare costs.
KPJ Healthcare, a specialty healthcare organization located in Malaysia, said Thursday (Nov 10) that it has collaborated with merchant commerce platform Pine Labs to develop a new zero-interest installment payment plan for customers.
The cooperation is described by the firms as a new pay-over-time option that will be offered through POS terminals in KPJ’s hospitals for costs of $100 or more for up to 24 months using a debit or credit card.
The study paper, “Managing Healthcare Costs: How Patients Use Payment Plans,” emphasizes the relevance 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.
