Some/many/most hospitals have a charity write off option for uninsured patients who cannot pay the hospital bill. It's a simple form to fill out, and I was able to get a $35K hospital bill written off. The write offs are tax deductions for the hospital, so they don't mind doing them. It is no loss for them.
It is a little known secret that I found out about that works.
Some/many/most hospitals have a charity write off option for uninsured patients who cannot pay the hospital bill. It's a simple form to fill out, and I was able to get a $35K hospital bill written off. The write offs are tax deductions for the hospital, so they don't mind doing them. It is no loss for them.
It is a little known secret that I found out about that works.
That's what the hospital I was in called it, but other hospitals may call it something else. It's basically declaring your inability to pay the bill, and that you have no medical insurance.
It's a form you get from the billing department of the hospital.
Fill it out and submit it, then they have to approve it, which it seems they do in most cases.
If the bill is a smaller amount of a few thousand, they sometimes discount it 50-70% since their markup is usually the same 50-70%.
If it's a larger amount like mine was, they already assume you won't be able to pay it, so it's better for them to just write off the full amount than send it to collections for pennies on the dollar.
Their ER was run by another company, so I got a separate bill from that company for the ER services. The hospital can't write that off, but that company can usually discount their ER bill rather than get nothing.
I don't know if all hospitals do this, but I would think they would.
I also suspect that they get some compensation from the government for their write offs too.
Some/many/most hospitals have a charity write off option for uninsured patients who cannot pay the hospital bill. It's a simple form to fill out, and I was able to get a $35K hospital bill written off. The write offs are tax deductions for the hospital, so they don't mind doing them. It is no loss for them.
It is a little known secret that I found out about that works.
Helpful info! Thank you. What exactly does one ask for? A "charity write-off" form?
That's what the hospital I was in called it, but other hospitals may call it something else. It's basically declaring your inability to pay the bill, and that you have no medical insurance.
It's a form you get from the billing department of the hospital.
Fill it out and submit it, then they have to approve it, which it seems they do in most cases.
If the bill is a smaller amount of a few thousand, they sometimes discount it 50-70% since their markup is usually the same 50-70%.
If it's a larger amount like mine was, they already assume you won't be able to pay it, so it's better for them to just write off the full amount than send it to collections for pennies on the dollar.
Their ER was run by another company, so I got a separate bill from that company for the ER services. The hospital can't write that off, but that company can usually discount their ER bill rather than get nothing.
I don't know if all hospitals do this, but I would think they would.
I also suspect that they get some compensation from the government for their write offs too.
Hope it helps anyone in that situation.