'It Feels Illegal,' Says A Patient After Hospital Forgave All Their Medical Debt. 'Anyone Dealing With Medical Bills Should Look Into This'

A Reddit post in the r/PovertyFinance community recently blew up after a user shared how one five-minute form resulted in their entire medical debt being forgiven. The post has since gone viral with thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments from people with similar stories.

One Form, Zero Balance

“It feels illegal honestly?” the user wrote. “But around a week ago, I submitted a form with my W2 from last year attached and my hospital deemed that I was poor, and forgave all the money.”

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Their message was simple: Anyone struggling with medical bills should check with their hospital’s financial aid department. According to the post, the application process varies depending on the hospital, but it’s usually listed on the hospital’s website under “financial assistance.”

A Little-Known Lifeline

Many users chimed in with similar experiences. One commenter said they had $10,000 in medical bills forgiven after giving birth. Another said their $30,000 bill for being hit by a car was wiped out when the hospital saw they were making $8,000 a year.

Others shared frustrating stories of being denied help for being just over the income limit, or having to submit mountains of paperwork only to get ghosted by the hospital and sent to collections anyway.

Still, most agreed: it's always worth trying. As one user put it, "Ask for an itemized invoice and request a 90% reduction or $5.00 a month." 

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Nonprofits and Loopholes

Many U.S. hospitals are nonprofit organizations, which means they're legally required to offer financial assistance. Some users noted that the hospitals do this quietly, hoping patients never find out.

"I've been preaching to anyone burdened with absurd medical bills: chances are you’re too broke to pay, and they know it," one commenter said. "What are they going to do? Take back your heart-lung transplant for nonpayment?"

Users also pointed to third-party resources like DollarFor.org, which helps people apply for hospital charity programs. Others mentioned that forgiveness might only apply to hospital charges, not services billed separately like anesthesia or labs.

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A Broken System

Many responses echoed the same frustration: the U.S. health care system is a mess. People shared comparisons to countries like South Korea and Mexico, where similar treatments cost a fraction of the price. “My next-door neighbor in Mexico had to have an emergency appendectomy. It cost 300 bucks US, 6K pesos. In a beautiful hospital that has all the same modern equipment as a US hospital.”

"The fact that they can forgive bills so easily means they probably don’t need to be charging so much in the first place," one user also noted.

And yet, the programs do exist. You just have to ask. As the original poster put it, "Being proactive is so important in these situations. I honestly didn't even think I would qualify." They added, "I saw a link to apply for financial aid when I was going to set up a payment plan."

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