Charity care or financial assistance:

Charity care, or financial assistance, is essentially a discount offered by providers to qualifying patients that can eliminate your medical debt completely or substantially reduce the amount you owe. If your bill is from a not for profit hospital, inquire about their financial assistance or charity care program. By law, non-profit hospitals must provide some level of financial assistance to retain their non-profit status. Unfortunately, not every medical provider is non-profit and is therefore not required to provide assistance. If you owe your doctor or dentist money, you may not be eligible for a financial assistance program.

Financial assistance programs are usually based on your level of income as well as on assets you may own and are most helpful for people who make lower income levels, but not low enough to qualify for other programs such as Medicaid. Even if you have good income, if a bill exceeds a certain percentage (typically ~30%) of your annual income, you may still qualify for assistance. If you have recently lost your job, you also should contact the hospital or your healthcare provider about financial assistance. While qualification for charity care varies by state and sometimes by hospital, many hospitals will begin offering charity care for people who make less than 300% of the federal poverty level (~$32,500 for one person or $66,150 for a family of four). To find out if charity care is offered and if you qualify, contact the billing office at your medical provider.  At a hospital this may be known as the central billing office, patient financial services, patient accounting or business services department.  If your provider offers charity care or financial assistance, make sure you ask for the financial assistance forms soon after your service is provided, if not before service, and submit them for processing in a prompt manner. Failure to do so may eliminate your ability to seek a discount.

Even if you don’t qualify for a charity care discount, you may be eligible for a discount from your provider off of your bill.  Many hospitals or providers will offer a discount to people without insurance or for prompt payments. These discounts typically range from 10% to 50% of your medical bill. Hospitals often complain that not enough people apply for these discounts or financial assistance programs.  They have been designed to help people who need them and you should also remember to ask what is available and whether or not you qualify.