Every figure we publish, with its exact value, how it was calculated, the universe it was computed over, and a link to the source. Each number on the site links here.
The rule this page enforces: if a number is not on this page, it does not ship. This page exists because an earlier version of our homepage stated a statistic that had never been checked and was wrong. A number nobody can trace is a number nobody can correct.
A family of four earning $66,000 can have a bill erased at the typical nonprofit hospital
$66,000
How it is calculated. The median hospital's free-care line is 200% of the federal poverty level. 100% FPL for a family of four in 2026 is $33,000. 200% x $33,000 = $66,000.
Universe. 1,794 nonprofit hospital filers, latest filed year each, reporting a free-care line
Being inside the income line does not guarantee free care. A peer-reviewed study of hospital financial assistance policies found that 64% of hospitals also weigh assets (savings, investments, sometimes second properties), 54% require documentary proof of them, 8.4% require citizenship or local residency, and a significant minority restrict eligibility for patients who have insurance. Policies generally cover medically necessary care rather than elective procedures, and the physician’s bill is often billed separately from the hospital’s. This is why we say a household at this income is “inside the line” rather than that a bill will be erased — income is the first test, not the only one. That same study found income limits ranging from 41% to 600% of the poverty level, closely matching the 40%–600% range in the filings we parse.
71% of patients who qualify for hospital financial assistance never receive it
71%
How it is calculated. Dollar For reports that only 29% of eligible patients receive financial assistance. 100% - 29% = 71%. Denominator is ELIGIBLE patients, not all patients with unaffordable bills.
Universe. National, Dollar For analysis of 2023 hospital expenditure and MEPS data
52% did not report receiving any information about it from their hospital
52%
How it is calculated. Verbatim finding: “Most patients (52%) did not report receiving information about financial assistance from their hospital.” We use the source’s own wording — “did not report”, not “were never told”.
Free-care lines run from 40% to 600% of the poverty level, median 200%
40% – 600%
How it is calculated. Minimum, maximum and median of the free-care income limit each hospital reports on Schedule H, Part I. 69 filers set a line above 350%.
Universe. 1,776 filers reporting a free-care line, latest filed year each
This row exists because an earlier version of the homepage stated a range of 100%–350%. That figure was never checked and was wrong. It is the reason this page exists.
The median hospital forgives bills at or below 200% of poverty and discounts up to 400%
200% / 400%
How it is calculated. Median of the free-care and discounted-care income limits reported on Schedule H. An independent Health Affairs analysis of the 2024 Dollar For database found the same two medians.
1,865 filers, of which 1,794 report a charity-care figure we can measure
1,865 / 1,794
How it is calculated. Every organisation filing IRS Form 990 Schedule H that we could retrieve, deduplicated to one row per EIN at its latest filed year. The smaller number excludes filers reporting $0 or nothing, which we never rank and never impute. One filer can operate several hospitals.
How it is calculated. For each filer: max(0, 1.814816% x total expenses − charity care), summed. The rate is the UNROUNDED sector mean (1.814816%, shown here to six figures deliberately) — computing at a rounded 1.81% instead gives $7.19B and 1,249 filers, so the precise value is what makes this number reproducible. The rate is THE SECTOR'S OWN AVERAGE, computed from the same Schedule H line we publish for every hospital — not an external benchmark. Hospitals above the average do not offset those below it, and filers reporting nothing contribute nothing, so it is a floor rather than a total. Daily figure is the annual total divided by 365. Against the higher published benchmark of 2.3% the same calculation gives $11.07B ($30.3M a day); we show both and lead with our own.
We lead with the sector’s own average rather than the published 2.3% benchmark, because 2.3% draws partly on Medicare cost-report data — a different instrument from the Schedule H line we publish. A smaller number computed with our own ruler is more defensible than a larger one computed with someone else’s and described as ours. Both are shown.
Measured with our own ruler, the sector mean is 1.8% and the gap is $7.2B
1.81% / $7.23B
How it is calculated. Mean of charity care as a share of total expenses across all scored filers, computed from the same Schedule H line we publish for every hospital. The gap re-runs the counter formula at that rate.
How it is calculated. Median of the same distribution. Median is lower than mean because the distribution is right-skewed: a small number of very generous hospitals pull the average up.
10 filers told the IRS they use collection actions requiring a legal or judicial process
10 filers
How it is calculated. Filers whose latest Schedule H, Part V carries EngagedLegalJudicialProcessInd. The form asks about lawsuits, liens and garnishment together, so a filer that places liens but never sues answers the same way. This is an attestation, not a court record.
Their median charity care is about 40% of that of filers that checked none
0.401% vs 1.058%
How it is calculated. Medians of the two groups: 0.401% / 1.058% = 38%. On MEANS the comparison differs, which is why we name the statistic. n=10 is small and moves easily.
Universe. 10 filers vs 1,703 filers attesting none
All 50 states and the District of Columbia, ranked
51 jurisdictions
How it is calculated. A filer appears in every state where it operates a hospital facility, so multi-state systems appear more than once and the state rows sum to MORE than the national figure. The national total counts each filer once.
Universe. Facility join against the CMS-derived hospital list
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