Some hospitals are now using medical credit scoring to assess uninsured patients seeking treatment Photo: David Boyle (flickr)

Don’t be surprised if the next time you go to a hospital, your credit scores, 401(k) balances and credit-card limits are examined before you are.

BusinessWeek reports that hospitals are looking at credit lines of uninsured patients to determine whether or not they will receive free or discounted care. And this “wallet biopsy” appears to hurt people with little or no insurance who may have very poor or very good credit.

If a patient's credit report is poor, hospital administrators may assume they are not likely to pay their medical bills and refuse to treat them. Yet patients who fall below the poverty line but who have good credit or enough assets may be considered financially stable enough to pay for their own procedures.

For example, Jacqueline Evans from Illinois was denied free or discounted care for an X-ray of her chronically painful back because her Visa card carried a $1,800 line of credit, even though her annual income of $6,500 made her eligible for charity care.

BusinessWeek also spoke to others ensnared by the new credit screenings, like Evelyn Leonard, a cafeteria worker from Florida. A Daytona Beach health center refused to give her radiation treatment after suggesting she use her 401(k) to help pay for the test.

The new screenings, in light of the current economic crisis, mean the currently 47 million uninsured Americans face another barrier to medical access.