DAYTON — At some point, it could happen to anyone. You could be in an accident or suffer a serious illness. Then, medical bills pile up faster than you can pay.
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As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, there is a free, little-known solution that can lower hospital bills or erase the debt altogether.
Time after time, at dozens of local emergency rooms, people who were not fine one, and then they weren’t.
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Bekki Mason suffered a migraine unlike anything she had ever felt before.
“It was so bad. I was pressing pillows on the side of my head to get the pressure to quit,” she said.
Cheri Phillippi was restoring her grandmother’s home when she suddenly got drenched in sweat.
“I’m very dizzy and I’m very, very weak, and I’m no longer able to stand up,” she explained. “If I had made the decision to go to bed and to sleep it off, I probably would never have woken up.”
News Center 7′s Nick Foley said both women received life-saving treatment at local hospitals. They both were dreading trips to the mailbox months later.
“I’m just sitting at home. I’m getting the bills, and I say ‘okay, I’m in trouble here,’” said Eason. “I had no health insurance, and I knew I needed it. But I have a lot of bills.”
Foley reports that medical debt is one of the top causes for bankruptcy in the United States. One in four Americans report avoiding care because they can’t afford it, according to the Peterson KFF Health System Tracker.
“People must make the decision between, ‘Am I going to continue my education or am I going to pay my medical bill? Am I going to be able to put food on the table or pay medical bills,’” said Jared Walker, founder of the non-profit, Dollar For.
Foley says the non-profit organization guides consumers through the process of applying for hospital bill forgiveness.
The hospitals often classify it as “charity care.”
It is federal law. It requires non-profit hospitals to have policies to lower or erase a qualified patient’s medical debt.
“And nobody knows about it!” said Walker. “We have millions and millions of people. Declaring bankruptcy or going on payment plans for bills that they don’t have to pay.”
Every hospital is different. But Walker says most will reduce or eliminate debt for people who are 300% below the federal poverty guidelines. That’s a family of four making less than $93,000 a year. But the process can be complicated.
“Now a patient can go to our website, put in their household size, their income, what hospital, and it will tell them if they’re eligible and lead them to a digital application,” explained Walker.
Foley says that Cheri Phillippi tried applying for Medicaid. She got denied three times.
Phillippi used the Dollar For website to apply for charity care. Three weeks later, the hospital notified her that her $2,600 bill was being forgiven.
“That was a tremendous amount of relief, and I couldn’t believe how fast,” she said.
Bekki Eason also used the website to guide her through the charity care applications.
“They got it down to free for UPMC. Then the other two went down to $12. I can do that. I could do that. I’m so thankful,” she said.
Visit this website for more information.
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