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

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Connecticut program

Reduce your hospital bills (financial assistance)

Hospital financial assistance can reduce or erase bills when the hospital’s policy covers your family.

What it is

Hospital financial assistance can reduce or erase bills when the hospital’s policy covers your family.

Insurance can leave a hospital balance that qualifies for assistance. Hospital policies and Connecticut law provide different protections. A financial counselor can check the charges, income rules and collection hold that apply.

Eligibility rules
  • Hospital policies differ. Some allow help for insured families with large balances.
  • Yale New Haven gives full help under 250% of poverty and partial help up to 550%, including balances insurance leaves.
  • Connecticut Children's cancels the whole eligible bill for a family under 250% of poverty and part of it up to 500%, including what insurance leaves. For an uninsured family under 250% that Medicaid has turned down, state law also caps charges at the hospital's own cost.
What you get
  • A bill reduction or write-off when the hospital’s policy applies.
  • Limits on charges for certain uninsured patients.
  • A collection pause when the statutory assistance-review trigger applies.
What the help covers
  • You can apply with insurance. Once the hospital knows you may qualify, it must stop collection until it decides. Ask which accounts the approval covers; separately billed doctors may have their own policies.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital financial counselor for the policy and application covering your child’s bills.
  2. Have bills, household income and insurance details ready.
  3. Ask which charges qualify and how collections are handled while the application is reviewed.

Each hospital · Official page ↗

After you apply
  • The hospital’s decision identifies the amount reduced and any balance remaining.
  • Ask for written receipt of the application and a list of anything missing. Connecticut Children's replies on status within 7 to 14 business days; ask how long an approval lasts.
Good to know

You can apply with insurance, and again after HUSKY is in place; they cover different parts of the bill.

Other details
  • Interest on a hospital bill is capped at 5% a year, even after a court judgment. The Office of the Healthcare Advocate (866-466-4446) can help with a bill or a credit-report problem.
  • The state charity-partner debt program uses debt portfolios, with criteria of income at or below 400% of poverty or medical debt over 5% of income. Meeting a criterion does not create an application route.

Federal background: Hospital financial assistance.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could this hospital reduce what we owe, even if insurance has paid part? What would the application involve, and could you help us understand the policy and ask for help?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know which hospital charges can be reduced before agreeing to a payment plan.

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 written policy and apply before a bill ages into collections.

Your social worker

The financial counsellor gives you the policy and helps you fill in the form.

The care team

Nothing.

Who decides
Each hospital decides its own assistance.
Ask the billing office
“Please give me your written financial assistance policy and the application form. We are insured and the balance is large against our income: can we still apply?”

How to apply

First step: The hospital financial counselor supplies the written policy and application and reviews applicable billing protections.

  1. Ask the hospital's financial counsellor for the written policy and the application in the first weeks.
  2. Ask whether an insured family with a large balance can apply.
  3. If a bill is heading to collections, call the Office of the Healthcare Advocate on 866-466-4446.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the hospital's financial counsellor for the written financial assistance policy and the application form.

What to gather

  • Every bill and statement
  • Household income
  • Your insurance card

How long: Set by each hospital.

What a yes looks like

A letter saying the bill is written off or discounted, and by how much.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask which income figure and which policy section they used, and call the Office of the Healthcare Advocate on 866-466-4446.

Watch out

  • A hospital’s free-care policy differs from the statutory cost cap for qualifying uninsured patients.
  • Collection efforts must stop when the hospital or collector learns potential assistance eligibility, until the decision. Federal 501(r) has separate extraordinary-collection rules.
  • The state's debt cancellation has no application and cannot be requested.

Dates that change this

2026-09-11: Hospital financial-assistance policies operate alongside Connecticut statutory protections. Qualifying uninsured patients may have charges capped at the hospital’s cost under CGS 19a-673. Under 19a-673d, collection efforts must stop when potential assistance eligibility is known, until eligibility is decided.

2024-07-01: Connecticut is reported to have barred medical debt from credit reports from July 2024, and the state's own page flags uncertainty about how that sits with federal law. Treat it as reported, not settled. (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

Hospital financial help, qualifying-uninsured charge limits and mandatory collection pauses.

  • $400/year — Debt cancellation income criterion used by the state's charity partner
  • $5/year — Alternative debt cancellation criterion: medical debt as a share of income

Legal protection: Hospital financial-assistance policies operate alongside Connecticut statutory protections. Qualifying uninsured patients may have charges capped at the hospital’s cost under CGS 19a-673. Under 19a-673d, collection efforts must stop when potential assistance eligibility is known, until eligibility is decided. · Connecticut medical-debt judgments have a 5% prejudgment and postjudgment interest cap. The state credit-reporting restriction has unresolved federal-preemption questions; OHA or legal aid confirms its application.

What it costs the family: Free to ask.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
any
Income
Hospital policies set their own assistance lines. The separate statutory qualifying-uninsured cost cap uses income at or below 250% of poverty and the statutory insurance conditions and a Medicaid application and denial.
Insurance status condition
insured patients can qualify at some hospitals
Residency
Connecticut
Processing standard
unknown

Decisions this site cannot make: Each hospital decides its own financial assistance

Expect friction on: There is no single statewide income line to point at

The trap: Do not wait for a bill to go to collections. Ask the hospital's financial counsellor for the written policy and the application in the first weeks. Connecticut also runs rounds of medical debt cancellation with a charity, but there is no application for it and you cannot ask to be included.

Where I read this

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