You may not need to pay that hospital bill
Is Marian Regional Medical Center, Arroyo Grande threatening to send you to A DEBT COLLECTOR for a bill you can’t afford to pay?
If you have a recent medical bill for an emergency visit or any other reason, you might be getting letters or calls telling you to pay that bill before it goes to collections and shows up on your credit report.
It’s not too late to get help. Nonprofit hospitals in Arroyo Grande, CA and across the country must offer charity care programs to patients. That means they forgive bills for people who don’t make enough to afford their bills. And they have to consider your application for 240 days after the first bill – even if they have already sent you to collections.
Are you looking to crowdfunding to save you from HUGE medical bills from your hospital that you can’t pay, check if you qualify for charity care.
These days, more and more people turn to websites like GoFundMe, Medgift, and other crowd-based websites to help pay their medical bills. They post links to their personal appeals on Facebook, Nextdoor, and Instagram. Friends and family give what they can, and help spread the word to their network, so that even strangers can donate to their campaigns.
But before you create that fundraising campaign, you should check that you even have to pay that bill. Most hospitals will not tell you that you are eligible for charity care until you ask about it. That’s one of the reasons Dollar For works so hard to make charity care known, easy, and fair for everyone.
Any hospital bill, for any condition, might be eligible for charity care
- Cancer
- COVID
- Flu
- Heart Issues
- Stroke
- MaternityCare/Childbirth
- An Accident