Bills and help
Get a hospital bill reduced
Apply for hospital financial assistance and negotiate what is left.
Do this today
- Use the tool: Hospital financial assistance check See whether it is worth applying for hospital financial assistance, count the 240-day window from the first bill, and see what to ask the hospital for.
- Read: Good faith estimates for people paying themselves 4 minute read. If you have no insurance, or choose not to use it, you are entitled to a good faith estimate. If the bill comes in $400 or more over it, you may be able to dispute the bill.
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Put this step on My Plan
So you can come back to it, and keep your dates and calls in one place.
In brief
- Uninsured and self-pay patients, including insured people who choose not to use their coverage, must be given a good faith estimate of the cost of care.
- If a provider's or facility's total billed charges are at least $400 more than its estimate, you can dispute the bill. Start within 120 calendar days of receiving the initial bill. The fee is $25 as of 11 November 2026.
- While the dispute is pending, the provider must not move the bill into collection, and must suspend late fees.
- This process is not for insured patients using their insurance. The matching rule for insured patients has not been put in place.
Read the full guide: Good faith estimates for people paying themselves
More guides, tools and letters
More guides, tools, letters 9
Guides
- Good faith estimates for people paying themselves
If you have no insurance, or choose not to use it, you are entitled to a good faith estimate. If the bill comes in $400 or more over it, you may be able to dispute the bill.
- Hospital financial assistance
Many hospitals will reduce or cancel a bill for people who cannot afford it, whatever your insurance appeal decides. Here is how to find the policy, apply, and keep your deadline.
- How to negotiate a medical bill
You can ask a provider to lower a bill. This page shows the order that works best: check the bill, ask for financial assistance, then make a written offer and get the agreement in writing.
- Payment plans and medical credit cards
A payment plan spreads a bill out but does not make it smaller. Here are the questions to ask a provider, or a lender that offers a medical credit card or loan, before you sign anything.
Tools
- Tool
Hospital financial assistance check
See whether it is worth applying for hospital financial assistance, count the 240-day window from the first bill, and see what to ask the hospital for.
Letters and scripts
- Letter or script
Hospital financial assistance cover letter
A cover letter to send with your hospital's financial assistance application, asking for a hold on the bill and a written decision.
- Letter or script
Offer to settle a medical bill
Offer a single payment to settle a medical bill in full, and ask for the agreement in writing before you pay.
Programs and services
- Program or service
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: what to do if you cannot pay a medical bill
Federal consumer-bureau guidance on checking whether you owe a bill, looking for billing errors, using appeal rights, financial assistance and payment plans, and avoiding collections.
From Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Program or service
Dollar For hospital financial assistance help
A free nonprofit service that helps you apply to a hospital for financial assistance (also called charity care) that can reduce or erase a hospital bill. It is about hospital bills, not insurance denials.
From Dollar For
Questions to keep handy
- What exactly was denied, and under which part of the plan?
- What is my deadline, and what is it counted from?
- Where and how do I send my request, and how will I prove it arrived?
- Who decides, and can I ask for a faster decision?
Not what you need? Find a person who can help, or search the whole site.