A hospital bill you can’t pay may come with help you never asked about, sometimes even with insurance and a decent income.
Dad Joke
I hate spelling errors.
You just mix up two letters and your entire statement is urined.
Ask about the help
Over the decades I’ve always been amazed at the discounts available on medical bills just by asking.
That came back to me reading a piece from KFF Health News and Tradeoffs this week. It points out that most of the nation’s hospitals offer free or discounted care to patients with low incomes or very high medical bills. You’ll hear it called financial assistance, or charity care.
A lot of people never use it, and the article cites surveys showing many patients don’t even know hospitals offer it. The ones who do often assume it’s only for people with no insurance and no income. It isn’t. Patients with middle incomes and insurance are sometimes eligible for discounts, especially when the bill would eat a big chunk of what they earn.
Some hospitals check for you now. In 2022, nearly 90% of tax-exempt hospitals said they screen patients and reduce bills on their own, and six states require that kind of screening for certain patients. But in most states, many patients still have to apply.
If a bill is too big and you can’t afford it, there’s no downside in asking for help and options. The one thing I’d do is call the billing office and ask for the hospital’s financial assistance policy, and whether you were screened for it. Nonprofit hospitals have to make that policy available, with a plain-language summary and a notice about it right on your bill.
My guide walks through exactly how to ask.
Have you ever asked a hospital for a discount or for help with a bill? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.
Asking can feel like admitting something. It isn’t. It’s a question, and most hospitals have an answer ready for it. I’ll see you Monday.
— Steve
One follow-up from yesterday: if an Amazon refund shows up, I’d accept it by opening PayPal or Venmo yourself, never through a link in a message.
Also on the site since yesterday: how to check if your child has a Trump account, protecting SNAP benefits as funding shifts to states, why not filing your taxes costs more than not paying, and what to do if you missed your 30 days to dispute a debt.
On the podcast this week: Damon and I talked about whether it’s better to look broke for a year or stay broke for 10, and the credit card trap in between.
If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.
This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.