Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have just published an amazing investigative report detailing how credit card companies and other lenders are increasingly working through doctors and hospitals to pitch high-interest medical financing plans to their patients.

The cards and financing are promoted to doctors, dentists, and veterinarians as a way to make more money and get paid promptly, according to the report.

Among the astounding findings in the report, which is titled "Overdose of Debt":

• Consumers report that they sometimes feel pressured by medical providers to finance needed medical care, in some cases while sedated or recovering from treatment.

• Doctors and dentists have financial incentives under these arrangements to encourage patients to sign up for more expensive treatments and to steer them to extended financing plans that take a smaller cut of the practitioner's fee.

• Interest rates can jump to as much as 27.99 percent retroactively. That's the rate Chase HealthAdvance's zero-interest plan charges, for example, if you miss a payment or don't pay off the debt in the promotional period. By contrast, the average fixed-rate credit card charges 11.9 percent, according to Bankrate.com.

• When hospitals persuade patients to tap unused credit, those patients can lose the power to bargain for discounts or even obtain charity care.

Consumer Reports has posted the full report online, where it can be accessed free of charge. No financing required.

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