INDIANAPOLIS — Hospital financial assistance, also known as Charity Care, is available in Indiana.
The issue is that many Hoosiers are unaware.
Earlier this week, WRTV introduced you to a family in Fountain Square that’s dealing with over $100,000 in medical debt.
After that story aired, nonprofit Dollar For reached out to us to say that they work to reduce or erase patients’ medical bills.
“We help make the bills go away," Policy Director Eli Rushbanks said.
Dollar For has helped erase over $1.5 million in medical bills in Indianapolis alone.
“Every nonprofit hospital in the country has to have a policy that gives people breaks on their out-of-pocket medical bills, as one of the things they have to do to be a 501c3 tax exempt entity," Rushbanks said.
A 2023 survey found that only 29 percent of patients who are eligible for these financial assistance programs end up using them.
“In college, if anything happened… it was just a hope and a prayer," 24-year-old Shaq Abiola said.
Abiola knows what it’s like to put off going to the doctor because of fear of the financial burden.
“There should be more transparency in billing. Sometimes you go in for a surgery and you don’t know how much you’re going to pay," he said.
Tiffanie Embry had a near-death experience that cost her thousands, which she’s unable to pay.
“Somebody ran into me, right on top of my car and it hit me. Seat belt almost cut me in half," Embry said. “The officers had to get me out of the car and I had over $20,000 of doctor bills.”
Dollar For wants to change that.
Rushbanks says they can help guide patients through the application processes and advocate for them once they’re done.
“Someone can go to our website, screen, see exactly what discount they’re likely eligible for just by answering five questions. If they’re eligible, they get taken to the intake flow which asks the specific questions that those hospital applications ask for," he said.
