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

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New York program

Reduce your hospital bills (financial assistance)

New York's hospital financial-assistance law can reduce or erase qualifying hospital bills, including some insured families' bills.

What it is

New York's hospital financial-assistance law can reduce or erase qualifying hospital bills, including some insured families' bills.

Insurance does not rule out hospital assistance. Eligible uninsured patients and certain patients with unaffordable remaining medical costs can qualify. The hospital reviews income, insurance circumstances and the kind of care billed.

Eligibility rules
  • The law covers every New York general hospital, including hospitals outside the indigent-care pool.
  • With insurance, you can qualify when what you have paid or still owe for medical care in the past 12 months adds up to more than 10% of your yearly income before tax. The counselor works that out with you; a diagnosis alone is not the test.
  • Required assistance for non-emergency medically necessary care has a hospital service-area residency condition.
  • For four people, the 2026 monthly equivalents are $5,500 at 200%, $8,250 at 300% and $11,000 at 400% of poverty.
What you get
  • Qualifying hospital charges are waived below 200% of poverty.
  • Discounted charges are available through 400% of poverty.
  • Payment plans are capped at 5% of monthly income, with interest capped at 2%.
What the help includes
  • Under 200% of poverty the hospital writes the bill off. Between 200% and 300% you pay at most 10% of what Medicaid would pay (or 10% of your insurance share). Between 300% and 400%, at most 20%. Ask for the written calculation.
  • The underinsured test uses costs accumulated over the past 12 months, rather than only amounts already paid.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital financial counselor for the uniform financial-assistance application.
  2. Have income proof, account numbers and insurance statements showing medical costs from the past 12 months ready.
  3. Ask which bills belong to the hospital and which come from separate physician groups.

Hospital financial-assistance office; New York Department of Health · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • A completed application has a 30-calendar-day decision standard.
  • An assistance application can be made at any time, including during collections.
  • Before starting a lawsuit or referring the debt for collection, the hospital must wait at least 180 days after the first post-service bill and make reasonable efforts to check financial-assistance eligibility. Separate application and notice protections also apply. The hospital cannot sue a patient whose income is below 400% of poverty for the covered hospital debt.
  • A completed assistance application protects against specified billing and collection activity while the hospital decides it. A collection-agency referral requires 30 days’ advance written notice. These protections do not extend a court response deadline or promise a pause through every appeal.
Good to know

Separately billed doctors may have different assistance policies. The hospital's approval does not automatically settle those accounts.

Other details
  • The expanded law took effect October 20, 2024.
  • An individual hospital can offer more generous help than the statewide minimum. Its own policy decides that extra assistance.
  • Treatment outside New York follows the treating hospital’s jurisdiction and assistance policy. Separate bills from New York hospitals keep their own protections.

Federal background: hospital financial assistance.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could the hospital reduce our bills even if we have insurance, and which separate bills would remain? If assistance is worth pursuing, could you help us complete the application and track the decision?”

Why I’m asking: We want to understand the hospital's actual financial-assistance rules before agreeing to a payment amount.

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 uniform application, hand in income proof, and quote the law if the hospital applies a stricter test.

Your social worker

The financial counselor screens for the free-care and capped tiers and applies the underinsured test.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
The hospital's financial-assistance office decides under the state minimum; the state Department of Health enforces.
Ask the billing office
“Under New York's Hospital Financial Assistance Law, which tier does our household fall in, and does the underinsured 10%-of-income test apply to our cost sharing? Please send the uniform application.”

How to apply

First step: Ask the hospital's financial counselor for the uniform financial-assistance application before paying anything. Total the last 12 months of out-of-pocket medical costs if you are insured.

  1. Ask the financial counselor for the uniform financial-assistance application before paying anything.
  2. If insured, total out-of-pocket medical costs for the past 12 months against 10% of income.
  3. If refused, quote §2807-k(9-a) and complain to the Attorney General.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the hospital's financial counselor for the uniform financial-assistance application and quote the law if refused.

What to gather

  • Proof of household income
  • Insurance explanation-of-benefits statements and receipts for the past 12 months
  • The hospital bills or account numbers

How long: A decision within 30 days of a completed application. You can disregard bills while it is pending.

What a yes looks like

A letter naming the tier (waived, 10% or 20%) and the period it covers, and a payment plan at most 5% of monthly income if anything is left.

What a no looks like, and the next move

"Over 400%" or "not underinsured": check the 12-month cost math, ask about the hospital's own higher tiers, and complain to the Attorney General if the law was misapplied.

Watch out

  • Insured families count. If out-of-pocket medical costs built up over the past 12 months pass 10% of gross income, the caps apply to your deductibles and copays. Some hospital forms say "paid"; the law says accumulated.
  • Physicians who bill separately are not covered by the hospital's policy. Ask which groups bill on their own.
  • A completed application has a 30-calendar-day decision standard. Before a lawsuit or collection referral, at least 180 days must pass after the first post-service bill and the hospital must make reasonable efforts to check assistance eligibility. Separate notices and application protections apply; a pending application does not extend court deadlines.
  • Ask for hospital assistance even if you have insurance: the legal categories include specified exhausted benefits or past-year medical out-of-pocket costs above 10% of pretax income. Required non-emergency assistance has a service-area condition.

If they say no, quote this: Public Health Law §2807-k(9-a): charges waived below 200% FPL; at most 10% of the Medicaid rate to 300% and 20% to 400%, uninsured or underinsured; 30-day decisions; no suits under 400% FPL.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 10, 2026.

What it is worth

Charges waived below 200% of the poverty line ($5,500 a month for four). At most 10% of the Medicaid rate at 200-300% ($8,250); at most 20% at 301-400% ($11,000). Same caps on cost sharing for underinsured patients. 30-day decisions; payment plans at most 5% of monthly income, interest at most 2%; no lawsuits under 400%.

  • $200 — Charges waived below
  • $10 — Maximum payment at 200-300% FPL
  • $20 — Maximum payment at 301-400% FPL
  • $10 — Underinsured test: out-of-pocket medical costs accumulated in the past 12 months above
  • $5 — Monthly payment-plan cap
  • $2 — Maximum interest on a payment plan
  • $30 — Decision on a completed application within
  • $180 — No lawsuit or debt collector for at least
  • $400 — No medical-debt lawsuits against patients with incomes below

Legal protection: All general hospitals must use the uniform financial-assistance application and follow the collection protections, whether or not they are in the indigent-care pool · You can apply at any time during the collection process, and disregard bills while a completed application is pending · DOH enforces with civil penalties

What it costs the family: None to apply.

The eligibility facts, as published

Scope
every general hospital in New York, including non-pool hospitals (PHL §2807-k(1)(h), (9-a))
Free care
below 200% FPL: charges waived, no nominal payment
Tiers
200-300% at most 10% of the Medicaid amount; 301-400% at most 20%; for underinsured patients the same percentages of the patient's cost sharing
Underinsured
out-of-pocket medical costs accumulated in the past twelve months of more than 10% of gross annual income (not necessarily paid)
Derived 2026 dollars household 4
200% $5,500; 300% $8,250; 400% $11,000 a month (HHS 2026 guidelines; the AG's 2026 table prints a typo for six at 300%)
Timing
A completed application has a 30-calendar-day decision standard. Collection referral or civil action requires at least 180 days after the first post-service bill and reasonable assistance screening; collection-agency referral also requires 30 days’ advance written notice. Applications may be made during collections.
Lawsuits
no legal action to recover medical debt against patients with incomes below 400% FPL
Effective
2024-10-20

Decisions this site cannot make: Hospital financial-assistance determination

Expect friction on: Hospital forms differ · Physicians bill separately

The trap: Hospitals can be more generous than the state minimum, and some policies print stricter tests than the law (paid instead of accumulated costs; 30 business days instead of 30 days). Quote the law. Separately billing doctors are not the hospital.

Where I read this

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