Dollar For helps with medical debt and hospital bills through charity care

30 Jan Dollar For Helps Patients Get Charity Care, Crush Medical Debt

Posted at 08:00h in Partners by mruckman

Staying on top of hospital bills and medical expenses in the midst of cancer treatment can be an overwhelming challenge. But for many patients, there is relief from hospital bills. It’s called “charity care.”

What Is Charity Care? How Does It Help You?

Charity care is a financial assistance program offered by most hospitals. For patients below the hospital’s income guidelines, bills are forgiven entirely or receive a big discount! On average, a family of 4 earning less than $100,000 a year will qualify. Plus, patients who receive charity care are sometimes eligible for refunds for money already paid towards the bill.

Charity care is not a pot of money that patients use up: if you apply for financial assistance, you are not taking money from other patients. It’s actually something that most hospitals are required to offer by law under the Affordable Care Act. The hospital then writes off the bill as if it never existed.

Unfortunately, hospitals each create their own policies and rules for how to apply for charity care. That means that the process to qualify and apply looks different at nearly every hospital in the country. And patients are frequently left alone to figure it out.

Dollar For and Triage Cancer Work Together to Crush Medical Debt

Dollar For is our teammate in making sure your cancer diagnosis doesn’t turn into a financial crisis. Dollar For is a national, nonprofit organization that helps patients check if they're eligible for charity care, submit the paperwork, and hopefully wipe out those medical bills. They don’t pay your bills; they get the hospital to forgive them. And their services are entirely free.

And it works! Since 2019, Dollar For has submitted more than 10,000 charity care applications and helped patients in all 50 states crush more than $38 million in medical debt. Patients like Jenna, Ashley, and Jarret all benefited from charity care with Dollar For’s help.

Dollar For Applies for Charity Care on Your Behalf

Do you have a hospital bill that you can’t afford to pay? Charity care should always be your first solution.

Step 1: Visit the Dollar For Website to See if You Qualify

Use Dollar For’s quick eligibility tool to see if you qualify for charity care. If you do qualify, you’ll fill out a complete patient form and upload copies of your tax returns, bills, and/or bank statements — information that hospitals require to prove a patient qualifies for financial assistance.

Step 2: Dollar For Will Prepare and Submit the Application

The Dollar For team will use your information to prepare a custom hospital application. They will mail, email, or fax the application to the hospital, along with your financial information. If you’ve given them everything they need, you don’t have to do a thing.

Step 3: Dollar For Will Work with the Hospital to Forgive Your Medical Debt

Most hospitals take 3–8 weeks to review and approve the application. During that time, a Dollar For patient advocate will check in with you for updates. They’ll give you tips on how to call the hospital and what to say to get more information. If the hospital asks for it, Dollar For will help you to submit additional information to support your case for debt relief. If all goes well, your bill could be forgiven in just a few short months!

To learn more about charity care, how Dollar For can help, and other key strategies for dealing with medical bills, register to attend our FREE webinar on February 27^th on Managing Medical Bills & Getting Financial Help.

You can also visit our Navigating Finances Resources.

About Triage Cancer

Triage Cancer is a national, nonprofit providing free education to people diagnosed with cancer, caregivers, and health care professionals on cancer-related legal and practical issues. Through events, materials, and resources, Triage Cancer is dedicated to helping people move beyond diagnosis.

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