The stagnant state of health care payments

The health care payments market is big – accounting for over one in six dollars of the U.S. GDP – yet it remains perpetually outdated with its heavy reliance on using paper statements for sending out bills.

In an age where consumers can use mobile phones for metro transit rides, order ahead coffee and digital person-to-person payments, it seems strange to be writing a paper check and mailing it to pay a doctor’s bill.

According to the U.S. government agency Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the total amount spent on health care payments in 2017 by consumers, businesses and the government was $3.5 trillion — or $10,739 per person and — accounted for 17.9% of the GDP.

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