Federal, exists in every state
Get help sorting unpaid medical bills
Official name: Medical Debt Triage
Different bills need different help: the insurer for claim errors, hospital billing for assistance, and legal aid for court papers. Sort them before agreeing to payments.
The right next step for each bill, and legal aid when court papers come.
Program details
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Keep bills, collection letters and court papers together. Respond to court papers by the deadline and call legal aid before signing an agreement.
Your social worker
The social worker gives you contact details for legal aid and the hospital patient advocate.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The creditor, the court or the insurer, depending on the debt
- Ask your social worker
- “A bill has gone to collections (or a court paper arrived). Who is the legal-aid contact for medical debt here, and can the hospital pull the account back for a financial-assistance review?”
How to apply
First step: List every debt with its source and date, and call legal aid the day any court paper arrives.
- Answer any lawsuit.
- Keep medical debt off credit cards.
- Use bill review before settlement.
Where it starts: Legal aid for any court paper
What to gather
- Every bill, collection letter and court paper
- The matching explanation of benefits
- The financial-assistance decisions
How long: Court papers have deadlines. Call legal aid as soon as one arrives.
What a yes looks like
A next step for each debt, with every court deadline recorded.
What a no looks like, and the next move
If a court ruled against you because you did not respond, call legal aid that day and ask whether the case can be reopened.
Watch out
- Never ignore a court paper. Answer it by the date on it.
- Never move medical debt to a credit card.
- A collector's payment plan is not a settlement. Ask the hospital to pull the account back for assistance review.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 7, 2026.
What it is worth
Debt reduced or restructured, and legal options kept.
Legal protection: Insurance and surprise-billing review · Hospital assistance before settlement · Legal-aid or nonprofit debt-counseling option
What it costs the family: Legal aid and nonprofit counseling are free or low-cost.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Debt or collection
- yes
Decisions this site cannot make: Debt validity · Collection-law protections
Expect friction on: Lawsuit deadlines · Multiple creditors
The trap: Ignoring court papers, or converting medical debt to a credit card.
What changes by state: State law sets protections for your home and wages and the deadline for a creditor to sue.
Where I read this
- Financial Assistance Policies for Tax-Exempt Hospitals — Internal Revenue Service, read August 27, 2026
- Using Insurance and the No Surprises Act — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, read August 27, 2026