You may be used to using your digital wallet at convenience stores and restaurants. But now you can use tap to pay to settle your co-pay while in the ER. That’s according to voting analyst Mercedes Chandler (@campcallout), who was just in the ER.
Chandler recorded her transaction and posted the video to TikTok on Oct. 8. Her video currently has over 415,800 views.
Who knew you could tap to pay in the ER?
In the video, Chandler faces her camera as she lies in a hospital bed.
She then holds up her hospital ID wristband for her viewers before panning over to a payment device. It clearly shows the four-curved-lined tap-to-pay symbol.
The video’s on-screen text reads, “You know you live in America when you’re in the ER and they bring out the tap to pay…”
@campcallout Murica #voteblue2024💙 ♬ original sound – violadagoomba (Robert)
How does it work?
The tap-to-pay symbol quickly became one of the most commonplace in the U.S. after the technology was widely adopted in the 2010s.
According to a Mastercard survey reported by NBC, contactless payments, including tap to pay, account for over 50% of all transactions in the U.S.
The majority of tap-to-pay transactions involve contactless credit cards. Chips embedded in the cards generate “a one-time security code that protects your payment information,” according to CNBC.
The card sends the information to a payment device using a specialized short-range radio frequency.
Why use tap to pay in a hospital?
Unquestionably, an increase in the use of “telehealth” since the pandemic has led to more contactless payment options.
According to InstaMed, “Since 2020, preventing the spread of germs has been top of mind for most people.”
“The idea of touching a keypad to enter your debit card pin at a hospital front desk makes many cringe,” InstaMed continued. As a result, “54% of providers changed their contactless payment strategy due to the COVID-19 pandemic by offering new payment channels and encouraging digital payments.”
The Daily Dot reached out to InstaMed for a statement.
Viewers talk healthcare
Many viewers used the comments section of Chandler’s video to express their displeasure at the U.S. healthcare system.
AnnOllie88 (@annolie88) wrote, “We had to pay the entire deductible upfront or my son couldn’t have surgery. If the whole payment wasn’t needed, they’ll send a refund check for what they didn’t use. Yay USA.”
“My brother had surgery last year and while he was laying in the bed hooked up [to] the IV they brought out a tap to pay,” another viewer added.
And, because tap to pay is usually used at eateries, where customers are more often than not asked for a tip, one person quipped, “Does it default to a 20% tip?”
The Daily Dot reached out to Chandler via email and TikTok messenger for further comment.
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