Health
Hospital financial assistance, and how to ask for it
Non-profit hospitals are generally required to have a written assistance policy, and most people who would qualify never apply.
Non-profit hospitals are required to maintain and publicise a financial assistance policy, and to limit what they charge people who are assisted under it. The policy is a document you can ask for by name, and it sets out who may apply and how.
Applications are usually made to the hospital's financial counselling or patient financial services department, with proof of income and household size. There is generally a window after treatment within which an application can still be made, including after a bill has gone unpaid.
Assistance is not only full write-off. Partial reductions, capped charges and interest-free payment arrangements are common outcomes, and all three are substantially better than the position before asking.
Where a bill has already been referred to collection, assistance may still be available and the account can sometimes be recalled. Asking is worthwhile at any stage rather than only at the start.
What to do next. Ask the hospital for its financial assistance policy by name, and apply even if the bill is already overdue.
studentaid.gov outranks this page. Rules, figures and dates change
between academic years. This is written to help you read the official sources, not to
stand in front of them. Start there.
Nothing here is a determination. We cannot tell you what you qualify
for, and no website can. The programme and the office that runs it decide that, after
you apply.
Still have a question?
Describe what you are trying to work out and a member of the team will answer, or direct you to the office that makes the decision.