What We Do

Dollar For is a national nonprofit that crushes medical bills by helping patients access charity care. We empower patients and advocate on their behalf.

Vision

A medical crisis shouldn’t mean a financial crisis.

Mission

Dollar For crushes medical bills by making charity care known, easy, and fair. 

Values

Dollar For commits to a culture defined by abundance, belonging, celebration, compassion, equity, growth, kindness, patient-centeredness, pragmatism, and transparency.

Solutions

The Affordable Care Act requires nonprofit hospitals to offer charity care programs to keep their tax-exempt status. These financial assistance programs reduce or eliminate medical bills for low-to-middle income patients. 

Unfortunately, hospitals hold all the power. There is almost no federal oversight of charity care, so most hospitals do the bare minimum to educate patients about these programs. A recent study showed that 72% of nonprofit hospitals spent less on charity care and community investment than they received in tax breaks. Nonprofit hospitals in 2018 received a combined $17 billion in tax breaks that were not passed on as community benefits.

Dollar For is here to help. We educate patients about these programs, help patients navigate the application process, and call out hospitals that don’t follow regulations. We have already crushed over $28 million in medical bills.

Our work is entirely funded through philanthropic grants and donations. Our services are completely free – no strings attached.

We make charity care KNOWN

Our 2021 viral TikTok on the basics of charity care was seen by over 30 million people. We currently have over 125,000 social media followers. Dollar For has been featured in stories at National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger, Kaiser Health News, Consumer Reports, and many other media outlets. Read all of our press coverage here.

We partner with nonprofits to spread the word about charity care and our services with patients nationwide. More than 125 service-focused organizations have already signed on as Dollar For partners.

We make charity care EASY

Dollar For’s proven direct service program helps patients apply for hospital charity care and crush bills. Our tech-driven approach allows us to help thousands with just a small team of compassionate patient advocates.

Our online eligibility screener—powered by our custom-built database of over 8,200 hospitals—helps patients quickly see if they are likely to qualify for financial assistance.

For eligible patients, we offer free support to navigate the charity care process. We use a custom, bilingual, mobile-friendly online form to collect information from patients and then work with them through email and text to secure financial assistance.

Dollar For has helped patients submit over 6,500 charity care applications since 2019.

We make charity care FAIR

Our policy advocacy team fights for patients when we think a hospital has made a bad call. We send hospitals formal appeals and demand letters, and work with local partners or regulators when appropriate.

We also leverage our media connections to call out hospitals that are breaking the law and work with advocacy partners to push for bigger change.

In February 2023, Dollar For released “Pointless Debt: How Oregon hospitals skirt financial assistance laws to charge patients—without increasing revenue.”  This report is the summation of months of research to explore the impacts of Oregon’s charity care law for both patients and hospitals.  The result is a scathing analysis of how hospitals have failed to implement the law and how patients are being hurt by pointless medical debt.