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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

West Virginia program

Help with hospital bills and collection notices

A nonprofit hospital’s financial assistance policy can reduce eligible bills and adds protections before serious collection steps.

What it is

A nonprofit hospital’s financial assistance policy can reduce eligible bills and adds protections before serious collection steps.

Hospital financial assistance has its own rules, even when insurance has paid part of a bill. Each nonprofit hospital must explain its policy before taking extraordinary collection actions. The policy decides which bills and families qualify.

Eligibility rules
  • The collection protections here apply at nonprofit hospitals, which WVU Medicine, CAMC and Cabell Huntington are.
  • The hospital’s policy sets income rules and identifies which clinicians’ bills it covers.
  • Each hospital's bands are its own policy, not a state rule; the counselor confirms which apply to your account.
What you get
  • A possible reduction or cancellation of eligible hospital bills under the hospital’s policy.
  • At least 240 days to seek assistance after the first bill following discharge.
  • Notice and review protections before extraordinary collection actions.
What the help includes
  • Extraordinary collection actions generally cannot begin during the first 120 days after the first post-discharge bill. They require at least 30 days’ written notice and reasonable efforts to assess financial assistance eligibility.
  • Reporting a hospital debt to a credit agency is an extraordinary collection action under these federal rules.
  • WVU: free care up to 200% of poverty, and up to 300% when bills left after insurance are at least a tenth of your yearly income. Above that, a long or catastrophic illness can be reviewed case by case.
  • CAMC’s linked policy provides free eligible care at or below 200% of poverty and a 53% discount above 200% through 300%. Assets must be below $50,000, excluding the main home and one car. Insured families can qualify; some benefit recipients also have a presumptive route. Approval can cover one year prospectively or retrospectively, and the policy bars collection-agency referral while an assistance application is pending.
  • Cabell Huntington and Edwards: full help up to 150% of poverty with savings under $50,000 (your home and one car do not count). Approval lasts 90 days at a time, and the hospital can review a catastrophic illness separately.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital billing office for the written financial assistance policy and application.
  2. Have your bills and the documents listed in that policy ready.
  3. Ask billing to explain which accounts the policy covers and to hold collection while it reviews the application.

The hospital's billing and financial assistance office · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • A timely complete financial-assistance application suspends extraordinary collection actions while the hospital decides it; an incomplete application also brings notice and an opportunity to supply missing information. This does not automatically stop ordinary bills, every collection call, interest or court deadlines. CAMC’s own policy additionally bars referral to a collection agency while an assistance application is pending; ask other hospitals to confirm any broader hold in writing.
  • WVU Medicine Golisano Children's Hospital financial assistance: 304-598-6260.
  • CAMC Women and Children's Hospital financial assistance: 304-388-6496.
  • Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center financial assistance: 304-526-6099.
  • WVU approval can cover eligible services 240 days before through 365 days after approval. Its denial appeal has a 30-day filing window and a 20-day response period. These are separate from the federal application period.
  • CAMC’s presumptive assistance applies to the person enrolled in a qualifying benefit, not automatically to everyone at home. Each hospital’s included-clinician list determines which separate professional bills its policy covers.
  • If your child is treated outside West Virginia, that hospital's own policy applies; ask its financial counselor.
Good to know

Assistance dates and covered accounts depend on the hospital’s policy. A pending review does not stop every ordinary bill or court deadline.

Other details
  • There is no federal ban on medical debt appearing on your credit report right now, but reporting it counts as an extraordinary collection action, so a nonprofit hospital must wait 120 days and warn you first.
  • The linked WVU policy was revised January 1, 2025; CAMC’s was published June 2, 2023. Cabell’s linked policy is named 2022 and uses a fiscal-year poverty appendix. Your counselor confirms which version and appendix apply to the service dates.

Federal background: Hospital financial assistance.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could the hospital reduce these bills under its assistance policy, and are any bills outside it? If it would help, could you help us apply and ask billing to pause collection during review?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know the amount we actually owe before agreeing to payments we cannot manage.

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, keep the dates, and apply before the 240 days run out.

Your social worker

The billing office has to give you the policy and hold off collection.

The care team

Nothing.

Who decides
The hospital, under federal rules for nonprofit hospitals.
Ask your social worker
“Can we have the hospital's financial assistance policy and application in writing, and can the account be held while it is decided?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the billing office in writing for the financial assistance policy and application, and for the account to be held.

  1. Ask the hospital for its financial assistance application and put the request in writing.
  2. Ask for the account to be held while the application is decided.
  3. If a collection letter has arrived, ask which date the 120 days ran from.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the billing office for the financial assistance policy and application in writing, and ask for the account to be held while it is decided.

What to gather

  • Every bill and its date
  • Any collection letter
  • The itemised statement

How long: At least 120 days before a collection step, and 240 days to apply.

Clock: A nonprofit hospital has to take a financial-assistance application for at least 240 days from the first bill after discharge.

What a yes looks like

A written decision on the hospital's assistance, and a balance reduced or cleared.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask which policy tier was used and whether the catastrophic or high-expense route was considered.

Watch out

  • Reporting the debt to a credit agency counts as a collection step and carries the same notice.
  • The clock runs from the first bill after discharge, not the treatment date.
  • The federal medical-debt credit rule was struck down in July 2025, so nothing keeps a West Virginia hospital bill off a credit file automatically.

Dates that change this

2026-09-11: No West Virginia hospital charity-care or fair-pricing law was found, and no authority confirming there is none. That is a gap in the evidence, not a proven absence.

2025-07-11: The federal rule that would have kept medical debt off credit files was struck down on July 11, 2025, so do not count on it.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

At least 120 days before any collection step, 240 days to apply for help with the bill, and 30 days' written notice first.

  • $120 — Days before a nonprofit hospital can start a collection action
  • $240 — Days to apply for the hospital's financial assistance
  • $30 — Minimum written notice before a collection action

Legal protection: A nonprofit hospital must tell you about financial assistance before any collection action · Reporting to a credit agency counts as a collection action and carries the same notice · The application window runs from the first bill after discharge, not from the treatment

What it costs the family: Nothing to ask.

The eligibility facts, as published

Scope
facilities of a section 501(c)(3) hospital organisation
State law
no West Virginia charity-care, fair-pricing, itemised-bill or medical-debt statute was located

Expect friction on: No state charity-care law was found, and no authority saying there is none

The trap: Reporting a bill to a credit agency counts as a collection action, so it also has to wait 120 days and carry 30 days' written notice. Say that back to the billing office.

Where I read this

← Back to your options