Most people learn about hospital financial assistance after a bill has gone to collections. It does not have to work that way — and by law, it is not supposed to.
Federal law (26 U.S.C. §501(r) — a condition of the tax exemption they hold) requires each one to have a written policy saying who qualifies for free or discounted care, to publicise it, and to tell patients it exists. And before taking certain extraordinary collection actions — lawsuits, liens, wage garnishment, reporting to credit agencies, selling the debt — the hospital must make reasonable efforts to determine whether you qualify for that assistance. The law does not set the income line — each hospital chooses its own.
The line is different at every hospital — and each one files its own line with the IRS every year. That is the number we publish.
Policies are written as a percentage of the federal poverty level (FPL). In 2026 the poverty line is $15,960 for one person and $33,000 for a family of four, in the 48 contiguous states.
So a hospital offering free care at “200% of FPL” covers a family of four earning up to about $66,000. One offering free care at 100% covers that same family only up to $33,000. Across the hospitals we hold, the median free-care line is 200% of FPL and the median discount line is 400% — but they run all the way from 40% to 600%, which is exactly why it is worth checking yours.
Source: HHS 2026 Poverty Guidelines. Hospital thresholds come from each hospital’s own IRS filing for the year shown.
This is the part that rarely gets said plainly. Someone who avoids care because they fear the bill does not stop being sick. Diabetes left unmanaged for two years does not stay a prescription problem — it becomes an emergency admission, a wound that will not heal, a procedure. Care that could have cost a few hundred dollars becomes tens or hundreds of thousands, and by then the person is sicker and poorer than when they first hesitated.
Charity care that appears only after collections is help arriving at the worst possible moment, to someone already frightened and already worse off. Help offered at the front door is a different thing entirely. A hospital’s income line is public, filed, and knowable in advance. That is the whole reason we put it on every page.
Where it comes from. Every figure is taken from a hospital’s own IRS Form 990, Schedule H, and links to the filing it came from. We report what hospitals reported. Where a hospital reported nothing, we say “not reported” — we never estimate, impute, or fill a gap.
What it is not. Where we say a hospital “attests” to something, that describes what it told the IRS. It is not a finding about its actual conduct, and it is not a court record. Figures are as filed for the fiscal year shown and may not reflect current policy or practice.
Draw your own conclusions — from the filings. This site exists so you can read the record yourself. It is published for general information only. It is not legal, medical, tax, or financial advice, it is not a recommendation about where to seek care, and it should not be relied on for any decision without confirming the underlying filing and checking with the hospital directly.
Corrections. If a figure here does not match the filing it links to, we want to know and we will correct it. cashpaymed.org