If you’re looking for a “safe, viable and responsible option for millions of Americans who need an alternative totraditional banking, check cashing and credit products” thenprepaid cards are the way to go.

That’s according to Russell Simmons, chairman of RushCommunications and co-founder of UniRush Financial Services thatproduces the RushCard.

“These cards give them the ability to shop the web, pay billsonline, and perform other banking functions like remote checkcapture, expense tracking and goal-setting, all while avoidinggoing into debt or racking up overdraft fees,” Simmons says.

Prepaid cards have been incredibly popular over the past fewyears. Consumers Union, the nation’s consumer rights watchdog andpublisher of the influential Consumer Reports magazine,released a study on prepaid cards that found that “prepaid cardsare no longer just for people who don’t have bank accounts. They’rethe fastest-growing payment method in the U.S. and they’reattracting those who want to budget their spending.”

The prepaid card industry has been working on various ways toprovide access to health care for a number of years. According toMasterCard, the U.S. consumer payments landscape is undergoingsignificant shifts as consumers try to regain their footingfollowing the financial crisis. Consumers are continuing to try tocontrol household spending, while striving to maximize valuethrough management of their liquid assets; they are deployingpayment methods more effectively and want to secure value andsavings in all areas of life, especially in health care.

Financial institutions, particularly prepaid card issuers andprogram managers, have the opportunity to implement new strategiesthat enable consumers to achieve their financial goals. Cardholdersand card issuers can both profit from this type of relationship.And, in the employer world, most small companies can't afford tocommit to hundreds of dollars a month in health care expenses foreach of their employees.

Many employers in the small business market buy benefitsaccording to how business is going. As the Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act gets closer to full throttle, small businessesare feeling the squeeze of the uptick in costs associated withhealth care coverage.

Also, just this summer, according to ModernHealthcare.com, in avictory for health insurance exchange customers with lower incomes,HHS issued a final rule that allows individuals to pay theirpremiums with a prepaid debit card. The move allows individuals whodo not have a bank account, called the “unbanked,” to pay premiumswith a card they add money to that's issued by a credit cardcompany.

The rule responds to widespread concerns that insurers wouldonly take payment by check and credit card, while millions oflower-income Americans who will be buying coverage on the statehealth insurance exchanges are unbanked because they can't affordthe costs associated with checking accounts and credit cards. Someinsurers had said they wanted to be able to set their own paymentpolicies. They don't necessarily like credit or prepaid debit cardsbecause the fees they have to pay are high.

“At a minimum, for all patients in the individual market, (aqualified health plan) must accept paper checks, cashier's checks,money orders, (electronic fund transfers) and all general-purposeprepaid debit cards as methods of payment and present all paymentoptions methods equally for a consumer to select their preferredpayment method,” the 300-page rule states.

Brian Haile, a senior vice president for health care policy attax preparer Jackson Hewitt (who lobbied HHS to require insurers toaccept prepaid cards), said the ruling benefits as many as 8.5million “unbanked” Americans. Jackson Hewitt found that 27 percentof uninsured Americans eligible for federal subsidies to buyexchange coverage under the Affordable Care Act do not have bankaccounts.

One very interesting opportunity in prepaid health care is madeavailable to employers through MasterCard. The company has rolledout a prepaid wellness card that provides access to servicespromoting employee engagement. With MasterCard prepaid health andwellness solutions, companies and their employees can work togetherto create a higher-quality health care experience. Prepaid healthand wellness cards help cut administrative red tape, therebyreducing and eliminating the hassles of paperwork and check writingfor cardholders. Plus companies lower administrative costs andboost not only the efficiency of plans and payments, but alsoemployee participation in wellness programs.

There are several benefits to organizations that use theirproduct:

• Lower administrative costs through simplified tracking ofexpenses and automated substantiation of eligible expenses.
• Gain control by restricting spending to places that providemedical goods and services.
• Improve employee satisfaction by increasing employeeparticipation in pre-tax healthcare plans.
• Encourage employee participation in wellness programs topromote healthy lifestyles.

Additionally, other major companies have rolled out prepaidhealth cards. Aetna introduced its Dental Value Pass cardearlier this year to rave reviews by the prepaid industry.Essentially, cardholders load funds onto a free card that can bepurchased online as an individual consumer, or through sponsoredgroups like employers, associations, and other organizations.Employers can use the card as a non-HRA type HRA and fund definedcontributions to pay for dental work using the Aetna Dental AccessNetwork, and employees receive a discount for dental services withparticipating providers.

The average savings, according to Aetna, is 36 percent fromusual and customary rates, and the card is free to the consumer ororganization. A nominal load fee is charged when funds are placedon the card, and it can be used right away. The card is a big plusfor anyone considering the cost of dental care.

Companies such as Careington International, a discount medicalplan organization and product aggregator in North Texas, providesaccess to ancillary health services such as dental, vision,hearing, wellness, telemedicine, and much more to several prepaidcard companies, including RushCard, which provide health savingsplans to their cardholders. Even employers can load health discountservices on payroll cards for their employees who may be unbankedand need access to health care.

The fit is perfect for anyone who needs savings, access, andvalue, including employers, individual consumers, associations andother groups. Even brokers can get in on the act by offeringprepaid health cards to their clients. Blending health care andprepaid cards makes sense. Why not make it easy for patients to payfor health as they need it, and save money and time when they visita provider? It’s time to load and go.