PITTSBURGH — At some point, it may happen to you — an accident or a serious illness, followed by medical bills piling up faster than you can pay them off. Forty-one percent of all American adults have medical debt.
Time after time at dozens of local emergency rooms — people who were fine one minute, and then they weren’t.
For aspiring writer Bekki Eason of Monessen, it was 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,” Eason said.
Cheri Phillippi was restoring her grandmother’s home in Penn Township when she was suddenly drenched in sweat.
“Very dizzy. Very, very weak and I was no longer able to stand up. If I had made the decision to go to bed and to sleep it off, I probably would never have woken up,” Phillippi said.
Both women received life-saving treatment at local hospitals. Months later, both were dreading trips to the mailbox.
“I’m just sitting at home. I’m getting the bills and I say ‘okay, I’m in trouble here,’” Eason said.
Medical debt is one of the top causes of bankruptcy in the United States. According to the Peterson KFF Health System Tracker, one in four Americans report avoiding care because they can’t afford it.
“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.
Dollar For guides consumers through the process of applying for hospital bill forgiveness. The hospitals often classify it as “charity care.” It’s federal law and requires non-profit hospitals to have policies to lower or erase a qualified patient’s medical debt.
“And nobody knows about it,” Walker said. “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,” Walker said.
The application process is free.
Phillippi tried applying for Medicaid and was denied three times. She used the Dollar For 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,” Phillippi said.
Eason also used the website to guide her through the charity care application.
“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,” Eason said.
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