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

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Illinois program

Help with hospital bills (Illinois hospital financial-assistance laws)

Illinois hospital laws provide uninsured discounts, financial-assistance screening and payment-plan protections.

What it is

Illinois hospital laws provide uninsured discounts, financial-assistance screening and payment-plan protections.

Hospital help depends on the hospital, the kind of bill and whether your child is insured. The free-care limit may be different from the partial-discount limit, and insured balances can have a different threshold. Your financial counselor can check the applicable policy and the household and income it counts.

Eligibility rules
  • The Hospital Uninsured Patient Discount Act applies to uninsured Illinois residents. Eligible charges must exceed $150 at a nonrural hospital or $300 at a rural or critical-access hospital.
  • Rural and critical-access hospitals use 125% of poverty for free care and 300% for discounts.
  • Insured patients can ask for financial screening, and indicators that a bill is unaffordable also trigger screening rights. The hospital’s own policy decides whether eligible insured balances receive full or partial help; those thresholds may differ from the uninsured law. Ask the financial counselor which bills, doctors and future dates an approval covers.
What you get
  • Free eligible care for uninsured patients up to 200% of poverty at nonrural hospitals.
  • Discounts for eligible uninsured patients up to 600% of poverty at those hospitals.
  • Financial-assistance screening, an itemized bill and payment-plan protections.
What the help includes
  • Discounted eligible uninsured charges are capped at 135% of the hospital’s cost. Annual collections from an eligible uninsured patient are capped at 20% of family income.
  • Illinois bars medical debt from going on your credit report. If a hospital debt appears there anyway, the Attorney General's office can help you challenge it.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital financial counselor for assistance screening and an itemized bill.
  2. Have income records, insurance statements and bills ready. Ask which separately billing doctors use the hospital’s policy.
  3. If you are uninsured, ask the counselor to review the statutory uninsured discount as well.

Your hospital’s financial counselor; Illinois Attorney General Health Care Bureau: 877-305-5145 · Official page ↗

What happens next
  • Ask for the uninsured discount within 90 days of the bill, or of a Medicaid denial if that comes later; the hospital's own policy may allow longer.
  • An insured patient has 90 days after the first bill to request a payment plan, followed by 90 days to negotiate.
  • The Illinois Attorney General handles hospital billing-law complaints.
  • A nonprofit hospital cannot sue or report the debt for at least 120 days after the first bill, and must accept an assistance application for at least 240 days. Applying pauses those actions.
Good to know

A high-deductible plan counts as insurance. The hospital’s own assistance policy is the place to check help with insured patient bills.

Other details
  • A financial counselor or legal-aid lawyer can check which collection and lien protections apply to your account and when any new law takes effect.
  • Automatic medical-debt relief is a separate program with no individual application.
  • Your financial counselor can confirm the application deadline and any collection hold in writing. A hospital assistance appeal does not automatically extend a court deadline. Legal help can review interest, garnishment or a lien for your specific account.
  • The hospital’s financial counselor can identify covered bills, separately billing doctors and how long approval lasts. UI Health’s policy excludes transplant-related services; the counselor must check that bill and any separate statutory rights. An out-of-state hospital uses its own policy.

Federal background: Hospital financial assistance at nonprofit hospitals.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Which hospital assistance policy could reduce our bills, and what would a discount or payment plan leave us owing? Could you help with an application if assistance fits?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand the hospital’s assistance rules before committing to payments we may struggle to afford.

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 in writing for screening, the itemized bill and, if uninsured, the statutory discount. Never pay list price.

Your social worker

The financial counselor runs the screening and names the separately billing physician groups.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
The hospital's billing office applies the statute; the Attorney General enforces it.
Ask the billing office
“Please screen us for financial assistance under the Fair Patient Billing Act and send an itemized bill. If we are uninsured, apply the Hospital Uninsured Patient Discount Act: free care under 200% of poverty and a discount to 600%.”

How to apply

First step: The financial counselor can check the applicable assistance policy, explain the 90-day window and its trigger, and help decide whether to submit an application.

  1. Ask for the itemized bill and the financial-assistance screening before paying anything.
  2. The financial counselor can identify which 90-day trigger applies: discharge/service, completed screening or denial of public coverage.
  3. Insured: ask for a payment plan within 90 days of the first bill.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask billing in writing for screening, the itemized bill and the uninsured discount; complaints to the Illinois Attorney General.

What to gather

  • Every bill and insurance statement
  • Proof of Illinois residency
  • Income proof for the last year

How long: The uninsured statutory application window is 90 days from the applicable discharge/service date, completed screening, or denial of public coverage. The hospital should identify the trigger that applies to your case.

What a yes looks like

A written discount or free-care decision and a payment plan that fits the 20% cap.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Complain to the Illinois Attorney General's Health Care Bureau and ask the hospital for its own policy decision in writing.

Watch out

  • Two hospital documents still print a 25% collection cap; the statute says 20%.
  • A high-deductible plan counts as insurance for the uninsured discount; use the hospital's own policy instead.
  • The Medical Debt Relief Pilot has no application: you cannot apply, but a letter can arrive.

If they say no, quote this: 210 ILCS 89/10 (Hospital Uninsured Patient Discount Act): free care at or under 200% FPL, discounts to 600% (nonrural), charges capped at 135% of cost, collections at 20% of family income; screening under P.A. 103-0323.

Dates that change this

2027-01-01: The claimed primary-residence lien protection beginning January 1, 2027 remains unverified. A financial counselor or legal-aid lawyer can check the applicable law and effective section. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 8, 2026.

What it is worth

Uninsured, nonrural hospital: free care at or under 200% FPL, discounts to 600%; charges capped at 135% of cost; collections capped at 20% of income a year. Rural or critical-access: 125% / 300%. Insured: 90 days to request a payment plan, then 90 to negotiate. No medical-debt credit reporting.

  • $200 — Uninsured free care, nonrural hospital, up to (% of poverty)
  • $600 — Uninsured discount, nonrural hospital, up to
  • $125 — Uninsured free care, rural or critical-access hospital, up to
  • $300 — Uninsured discount, rural or critical-access hospital, up to
  • $20 — Annual collection cap for an eligible uninsured patient
  • $135 — Discounted charges capped at (percent of cost)
  • $90 — Insured patient: days after the first bill to request a payment plan
  • $90 — Uninsured application window from the applicable discharge/service, screening or public-coverage-denial trigger
  • $400 — Medical Debt Relief Pilot income line (no application)

Legal protection: Screening for public coverage and financial assistance (uninsured with consent; insured on request or on signs of inability to pay), since July 1, 2024 · An uninsured patient found eligible for free care must not be billed · Itemized bill on request · Medical debt cannot be reported to consumer reporting agencies (since January 1, 2025) · A financial counselor or legal-aid lawyer can check which collection and lien protections apply to this account and when any new law takes effect. The claimed January 1, 2027 primary-residence lien change remains unverified. · Attorney General enforces the Fair Patient Billing Act

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Hupda
uninsured Illinois residents (a high-deductible plan is insurance); charges over $150 (nonrural) or $300 (rural/critical access)
Fpba
every patient; insured patients get screening on request or on inability-to-pay indicators
Credit reporting
medical debt barred from consumer reports from 2025-01-01; general-purpose credit cards excluded
Lien
A financial counselor or legal-aid lawyer can check which collection and lien protections apply to this account and when any new law takes effect. The claimed January 1, 2027 primary-residence lien change remains unverified.
Debt relief pilot
no application; participating providers; income at or under 400% FPL or medical debt at or over 5% of income
Garnishment interest
no blanket ban found

Decisions this site cannot make: Hospital screening and discount determination

Expect friction on: Physicians bill separately · Stale 25% cap in some hospital documents

The trap: Two hospital documents still print an old 25% collection cap; the statute says 20%. Insured patients are not in the uninsured discount, but the hospital's own policy (see the hospital item) often covers them anyway.

Where I read this

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