My husband broke his ankle while uninsured. Where can we go for financial assistance. The bills total 22k.?

Answer 1

If you contact your local medic-aid or medi-cal office you may qualify for emergency medical insurance and they can retroactive it to the time of the accident. You may also try making a deal with the hospital. They usually charge non insured people 4 - 5 times what insurance people pay. If you offer them the medicare rate it will probably decrease your bill by more that half. Then of course you will have to set up a payment plan.

Answer 2

Go to the hospital accounting office and ask to speak with whomever deals with billing for uninsured people. Make sure and bring proof of income for both of you and if you have any big bills like mortage or car payments already then bring proof of your precarious financial status. Most likely the hospital will write off much of your bill and hope to recover 7-10 thousand dollars from you paid on a time payment plan if you are willing to commit to regular payments. I would discretely imply that any bill over 10K will probably cause you to file bankruptcy. I'd bet you could get your bill renegotiated to 10K if you were polite and firm.

The health care system in the US is rigged against working people with no medical insurance and all hospital bills are padded so the hospital can "write off" their losses from the many people unable to pay. Choices for the average uninsured Joe are to try to negotiate as described above or let the hospital get a judgement against you for the inflated cost amount and then either have ruined credit or go bankrupt. Medical emergencies are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. I know it is easier said than done but always only take jobs that offer medical insurance or at least buy a high deductible catastrophic health care coverage because most Americans are only one accident away from bankruptcy at any given time. Our health care system is a mess, so remember your experiences now when voting for your favorite crooks, I mean politicians, since until the political will to change things regarding health care is present (41+ million uninsured Americans), it is better to be an illegal alien needing health care help than a hardworking American unable to get health care through your job. good luck

Answer 3

$22k for a broken ankle???? Imagine if he's broken the whole leg...

That depends on where you live, and how much income you have.

You could apply for Medicaid--but if your income is too high, you won't get it.

If he did it at work, he could try to get Workman's Comp or something like that. Good luck--I still can't believe a broken ankle could possibly cost so much--something is wrong with the system for sure.

Answer 4

Try to work things out with the hospital and the providers, they will and can "write off" a certain amount of bills from "uninsureds" each year, they may be willing to do that...ask em, it can't hurt. Tell them you can't pay...see what happens...good luck....bad break...(no pun intended)

Answer 5

The Medi-cal programs will help you going back 90 days. More people qualify than they think. The income limits for Medi-cal are alot higher than food stamps and cash aid.

Answer 6

usually based on your combined income - but government assistance - or credit cards... that may be it. I had a friend who once had triplets when her insurance lapsed... i think it was in the 100's of thousands and she still pays it back today and probably will forever.