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

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Colorado program

Reduce your hospital bills (state discount and hospital assistance)

Colorado law can reduce eligible hospital bills, and a hospital’s own assistance policy may offer more help.

What it is

Colorado law can reduce eligible hospital bills, and a hospital’s own assistance policy may offer more help.

Hospital bills can qualify for a state discount even when you have insurance. A hospital’s own assistance policy may also help above the state limit. Your financial counselor can compare the two routes and the bills each covers.

Eligibility rules
  • Colorado Hospital Discounted Care has operated since September 1, 2022. It applies to covered services at Colorado general and critical-access hospitals, with household income no more than 250% of poverty and an attestation of Colorado residency.
  • You can ask for screening even with insurance. The law covers Colorado hospitals; a hospital in another state has its own policy.
  • The hospital cannot deny Hospital Discounted Care because you did not apply for another public benefit. Coverage screening and the discount have separate rules.
What you get
  • Discounted eligible hospital and professional bills under Colorado law.
  • Income-based monthly payment limits for qualified bills.
  • The remaining qualified balance discharged after 36 cumulative monthly payments under the required plan.
  • A separate review under the hospital’s financial-assistance policy.
What the help includes
  • Monthly payments are capped at 4% of your monthly income for the hospital bill and 2% for each doctor's bill (6% when they bill together). After 36 payments the rest is written off.
  • For a qualified bill, the balance is discharged after 36 cumulative months of payments under the required plan, or earlier full payment. Waiting 36 months without making the required payments is different.
  • Children's Hospital Colorado's policy applies at Anschutz and Colorado Springs. It offers additional assistance at 251%–400% of poverty for inpatient bills only. Its applicable self-pay discount is 35%; the financial counselor confirms which discount applies.
  • Children's Hospital Colorado assistance covers its hospital bills. Separate clinicians, including CU Medicine, radiology or pathology, may have separate policies. Its 365-day old-bill look-back does not establish a one-year approval period.
If you decide to apply
  1. Talk with your hospital social worker or financial counselor about the state discount and the hospital’s own assistance.
  2. If you decide to seek screening, ask about the hospital’s phone, in-person, email or portal route and keep a dated record.
  3. Have the bills and household income records ready so you can compare which charges each policy covers.

Hospital business office or financial counselor · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Ask for screening within 45 days of the first bill (for insured patients, the first bill after insurance). The hospital must contact you within three business days, give you 45 days for documents, and decide within 21 days of a complete application; Children's Hospital Colorado decides within 14. While a complete application is under review, collection pauses. (two bullets at most)
Good to know

Two separate doors: the state discount stops at 250% of poverty, but the hospital's own assistance can reach higher, so ask for both screenings.

Other details
  • Your hospital confirms its current assistance percentage, covered bills and approval duration. For HCA HealthONE Rocky Mountain Children's at Presbyterian St. Luke's, the financial counselor can supply the campus policy, clinician list and approval notice.
  • A hospital-assistance application, insurance appeal and written statement request to a collector have different protections. Your social worker can help identify which applies and keep court deadlines separate.

This card includes two different questions: whether Colorado’s Hospital Discounted Care law reduces an eligible bill, and whether this hospital’s own financial-assistance policy offers more help. Insurance or income above the state-law limit does not by itself close the second question. At Children’s Hospital Colorado, additional help at 251–400% of poverty is for inpatient bills only.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could these hospital bills qualify for Colorado's discount law, and how would its payment plan compare with the hospital's own assistance? Could you help us request the screening and understand the terms?”

Why I’m asking: I want a bill and payment amount our family can manage, with the protections the law provides.

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

Ask for the screening in writing and keep the reply.

Your social worker

The hospital must screen, discount and cap the monthly payment.

The care team

Nothing.

Who decides
The hospital screens; the state reviews complaints.
Ask the billing office
“I am asking to be screened for Hospital Discounted Care under Colorado law. Please confirm in writing, and tell me the monthly cap on my bill.”

How to apply

First step: Write to the hospital business office asking to be screened for Hospital Discounted Care.

  1. Ask the hospital in writing for Hospital Discounted Care screening, naming the law.
  2. If they refuse or ignore it, complain to the state, which must review within 30 days.

Where it starts: Ask the hospital business office for Hospital Discounted Care screening by name, in writing.

What to gather

  • Household income
  • The bills and account numbers

How long: General screening uses a 45-day period from the applicable trigger. The usual decision standard is 21 days after a completed application; complaint and appeal clocks are separate.

What a yes looks like

A discounted balance and a monthly payment amount inside the caps.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask for the reason in writing and complain to the state, which must review within 30 days.

Watch out

  • Insured patients can request screening in person, by phone, email or the hospital portal. A dated record helps if there is a delay.
  • The hospital cannot deny Hospital Discounted Care because the patient did not apply for another public benefit. The discount has its own eligibility rules.
  • The old Colorado Indigent Care Program was repealed in July 2025 and is not the route now.

If they say no, quote this: Colorado Revised Statutes 25.5-3-501: a "qualified patient" has household income not more than two hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level.

Dates that change this

2027-07-01: Hospital Discounted Care has operated since September 1, 2022. Current screening, discount and payment-plan protections apply; future rulemaking references do not postpone them.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Qualified hospital bills can receive discounts at or below 250% FPL, with payment caps and discharge of the balance after 36 cumulative months of required payments or earlier full payment.

  • $250/year — Household income ceiling for a qualified patient
  • $4/month — Monthly cap on a hospital facility bill
  • $2/month — Monthly cap on each professional bill
  • $6/month — Monthly cap on a combined hospital and professional bill
  • $36 — Payments after which the bill is treated as paid in full
  • $30 — State review of a patient complaint
  • $45 — General screening period after the applicable service, discharge or insured-bill trigger; separate from the completed-application decision standard

Legal protection: An insured patient can ask for the screening · A hospital cannot deny the discount solely because the patient did not apply for public coverage · Screening and discounting must happen before a bill is sold or aggressive collection begins · After 36 cumulative months of payments the balance is treated as paid and collection must stop · The state reviews a patient complaint within 30 days

What it costs the family: Nothing to ask for.

The eligibility facts, as published

Income
Household income not more than 250 percent of the federal poverty level
Residency
Attesting to residing in Colorado
Service
Received an inpatient or outpatient hospital service at a health-care facility

The trap: The hospital cannot deny Hospital Discounted Care because the patient did not apply for another public benefit. The discount has its own eligibility rules.

Where I read this

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