Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Arizona program

Your rights on an Arizona medical bill

Arizona limits interest and wage collection on medical debt, even when the bill reaches court.

What it is

Arizona limits interest and wage collection on medical debt, even when the bill reaches court.

A medical bill can grow after it reaches a collector. Arizona limits the interest and how much ordinary garnishment can take from pay. The original debt can still be owed.

Eligibility rules
  • For covered debt owed by an Arizona resident, including judgments, the interest limit is the lesser of 3% annually or the weekly-average one-year constant-maturity Treasury yield for the calendar week before the debt was first billed.
What you get
  • Interest no higher than 3% a year, and lower when the Treasury-based cap is lower.
  • Protection for most disposable pay against ordinary garnishment.
What the help includes
  • Ordinary garnishment takes no more than the lesser of 10% of disposable earnings or earnings above 60 times the minimum wage. The more protective limit applies.
  • Arizona requires hospital compliance with federal price-transparency rules, except for the Arizona State Hospital.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask hospital billing for an itemized bill and its financial-assistance application.
  2. If collection is involved, ask the social worker or legal-aid office to review dated bills, collection letters and any court papers.

Hospital financial counselor; a legal-aid office for collection or court papers · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The collector may correct an interest calculation; a court decides disputed legal issues. A debt can still be collected within the applicable limits.
Good to know

A hospital assistance request does not itself answer a court deadline. Court papers need their own review.

Other details
  • Arizona’s interest cap does not itself stop collection or remove a bill from a credit report. The hospital social worker can check the hospital’s assistance policy, local funding and any applicable collection pause for the particular bill. Federal tax-exempt-hospital rules restrict extraordinary collection actions under their notice and application conditions; routine billing contacts can continue.
  • Arizona is buying and cancelling some medical debts for families under four times poverty. You cannot apply; if your debt is included, a letter will tell you. Keep to every deadline until it arrives.
  • Federal tax-exempt-hospital collection rules generally have a 120-day notification period and at least a 240-day assistance-application period from the first post-discharge bill. The financial counselor can check those dates and whether the bill is covered.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If a medical bill reaches collection, which Arizona protections could help us? Could you help us check the balance, hospital assistance and any court deadline before agreeing to payments?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know what we legally owe and whether financial assistance can reduce it.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Write rather than phone, and keep copies.

Your social worker

The hospital financial counsellor can often stop a bill before it becomes a collection matter.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
A court, or the collector when the limits are pointed out.
Ask the billing office
“Please send the itemised bill and the financial assistance application, and hold collection while it is decided.”

How to apply

First step: Ask the hospital for its financial assistance application before any bill reaches a collector.

  1. Ask the hospital for its financial assistance application before dealing with any collector.
  2. Put the interest cap and the garnishment limit in writing if a collector quotes more.
  3. Keep every letter; dates matter if it reaches court.

Where it starts: Put the limits in writing to the collector and ask for the itemised bill and the hospital’s financial assistance application at the same time.

What to gather

  • Every bill and collection letter, with dates
  • The itemised bill from the hospital

How long: Ongoing; the limits apply whenever collection happens.

What a yes looks like

A corrected balance, or a collector that stops quoting a higher interest rate.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If a collector will not budge, ask a legal aid office to look at the interest and garnishment figures.

Watch out

  • These are limits on cost and collection, not immunity from the debt.
  • No statewide charity-care law could be verified here; the hospital’s own policy is the route.
  • The state-backed debt-relief partnership selects participating debt portfolios. Families cannot apply to have an individual bill purchased; a cancellation notice is what confirms relief.

Dates that change this

2026-08-05: Arizona’s August 2026 partnership with Undue Medical Debt cancels selected debts from participating portfolios. Published criteria include Arizona residency and income at or below 400% of poverty or medical debt at least 5% of estimated annual income. Families cannot apply to have a particular bill purchased; a cancellation notice confirms inclusion. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Medical-debt interest is limited to the lower of 3% annually or the one-year Treasury constant-maturity yield for the calendar week before first billing. Separate garnishment protections apply.

  • $3/year — Annual maximum; lower Treasury yield for calendar week before first billing controls
  • $10/week — Most of disposable pay an ordinary garnishment can take

Legal protection: Interest on medical debt capped, judgments included · Ordinary garnishment limited to a tenth of disposable earnings or earnings above sixty times the minimum wage, whichever protects more · Hospitals must follow the federal price-transparency rule

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Applies to
medical debt owed by an Arizona resident; the price-transparency duty does not apply to the Arizona State Hospital

The trap: These are limits, not immunity. A debt can still be collected and a judgment still entered; what is capped is the interest and how much of a paycheque can be taken.

Where I read this

← Back to your options